UFC 101 Betting Odds & Predictions: Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva

Simply put, Anderson Silva’s last fight was a disaster. His title defense against Thales Leites was regarded as a head-scratching matchup before it went down and it ended up being far worse than anyone had anticipated.

In fact, the Silva-Leites fight might be the front-runner for the dishonor of being named the most boring UFC title fight in history if such a poll were ever conducted.

Silva doesn’t want to hear about it, however, and he insists that people who criticize his conservative performance in the win aren’t true fans of the sport.

Dana White also was frustrated by the fight and set out to find an opponent who could challenge Silva, and he may have found it with 205-pound star and former Ultimate Fighter winner Forrest Griffin.

Griffin presents a whole new set of challenges for Silva as he could be the biggest guy he’s ever fought and perhaps the most aggressive and relentless competitor as well, although a strong argument could also be made for Dan Henderson.

The UFC betting odds for this one at BetUS are currently a somewhat surprising

-350 for Silva for +250 betting odds for the underdog Griffin. While Silva definitely deserves to be the favorite, it seems as though the action is moving towards him as UFC 101 approaches this Saturday. Perhaps bettors are simply realizing that Silva is too multi-talented to lose, even to an opponent who could outweigh him by about 20 pounds.

Silva will have a definite speed and footwork advantage over Griffin in the fight, that’s for sure. Griffin is rangy and fairly quick, and his leg kicks are some of the best in the entire UFC. But Silva can avoid most of his strikes with his footwork and quickness in this fight.

Contrary to popular belief, Silva is actually more of a counter-striker than a traditional aggressive muay thai fighter, and that could play to his advantage in this fight. Remember that Griffin was beating Rashad Evans in their title fight but ended up getting his leg caught and then pummeled into a TKO by Evans.

Griffin’s stand-up game is very good but not nearly as diverse as Silva’s, and that should be the difference in this one as the fighters are pretty even on the ground.

Silva should live up to his favorite status and score a TKO on Griffin using one of the most creative and fluid striking games the sport of MMA has ever seen; a win that could potentially set up a super fight with Georges St. Pierre in the near future.