By Zach Arnold

This weekend’s two-headed MMA monster party featuring both UFC & Affliction has provided our dear degenerate gamblers with plenty of chances to cherry-pick some great fights to bet on and get in on the heavy action.

In this quick preview, we’ll take a look at the odds from various online sportsbooks for this Saturday’s Affliction event taking place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The buzz online for the card is reminiscent of some of the older PRIDE cards that had hardcore fans clamoring for days-on in. With so many heavyweight fights on the card, the show presents a lot of interesting opportunities for bettors to considering laying some coin on. We’ll take a look at the fight card and the odds for each fight, along with our thoughts on what appear to be some interesting sucker bets.

Heavyweights: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia

Bodoglife: Fedor (-400) vs. Sylvia (+275)
BetUS: Fedor (-350) vs. Sylvia (+250)

Thoughts: What a test this should be for Fedor. Yes, most people recognize him as the top (or one of the top) fighter on the planet and there seems to be nothing that can stop him.

Unless, of course, you believe Michael Bisping and think that Fedor is injured… or perhaps you really believed the rumors from a year or so ago from UFC fans online that Fedor didn’t sign with UFC because he was afraid of facing Tim Sylvia. Either way, the fight’s happening and on paper, everything should go Fedor’s way.

However, MMA results in actuality are often different than how they seem scripted out on paper.

Sylvia’s last two fights were interesting tests for him, as he won a boring decision over Brandon Vera and then lost a competitive fight to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Nogueira was Fedor’s long-time arch nemesis in the PRIDE ring and could never beat the Russian. Now, we aren’t subscribing to MMA match here in saying that because Nogueira beat Syvlia and lost to Fedor, therefore Fedor is automatically better than Sylvia.

However, what can be said about Sylvia is that he’s a very tough fighter who is going to be fighting in a ring rather than a cage, which should neutralize some of Tim’s strengths going into the fight. If you look at the four losses Sylvia has had in his career, they all came against opponents who had the upper hand on him in one category or another. Three of the four losses (against Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski, and Nogueira) came by submission, and the fourth loss was Randy Couture’s memorable five-round dismantling of the 6’8″ giant. The odds on paper would indicate that Fedor should win the fight by submission. Then again, look at who Fedor has faced in the past couple of years. Sylvia is a step-up for the Russian given his recent PRIDE fights.

If you really are feeling frisky, then I could see Sylvia getting some action at +275. However, it feels tenuous to put a play on him, at best. It should be a fun fight to watch, however, given how much Fedor likes to press the action in the ring.

Heavyweights: Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Paul Buentello

Bodoglife: Aleksander (-350) vs. Buentello (+275)
BetUS: Aleksander (-350) vs. Buentello (+275)

Thoughts: Another fun fight featuring two heavy strikers. This should not last long at all, given Buentello’s track record. The obvious key to beating Aleksander is to tire him out and submit him (like Josh Barnett did a couple of years ago in the PRIDE ring). Unless Buentello adopts that game plan, expect a traditional slug-fest with the Russian having the advantage.

That’s not to say that Buentello should be this big of an underdog, however. Is it a sucker bet? It’s a bit of a risk, but take a look at some of the names Aleksander has fought in the last two years — Eric Pele, Jessie Gibson, Dan Bobish, Silvao Santos. In other words, Buentello is a step-up in competition.

Heavyweights: Josh Barnett vs. Pedro Rizzo

Bodoglife: Barnett (-450) vs. Rizzo (+300)
BetUS: Barnett (-400) vs. Rizzo (+300)

Thoughts: The only way Rizzo wins this fight is if Barnett decides to throw out any semblance of game plan and gets arrogant by getting into a stand-up-only war with the Brazilian. However, the Josh Barnett that lost to Pedro Rizzo many years ago is long gone and today’s Barnett is one of the most intelligent game-planners in the business, bar none.

This clearly looks to be the biggest of the sucker bets on the card. If you took Rizzo, Buentello, and Sylvia and said which underdog is least likely to win, it’s Rizzo.

Middleweights: Matt Lindland vs. Fabio Negao
Bodoglife: Lindland (-500) vs. Negao (+350)
BetUS: Lindland (-450) vs. Negao (+325)

Thoughts: What a step-up in competition for the 8-3 Negao with Matt Lindland. Unless you subscribe to the theory that Lindland is distracted with his political career in Oregon, everything — and I mean everything — on paper indicates that Lindland should win this fight.

Sure, Negao has an interesting fight record featuring names like Demian Maia and Roan Carneiro, but Lindland is such a step-up in competition that it would be a very big upset if Lindland was to lose this fight.

Degenerates would be recommended to stay away from this line as much as possible.

Light Heavyweights: Renato Sobral vs. Mike Whitehead
Bodoglife: Babalu (-260) vs. Whitehead (+190)
BetUS: Babalu (-260) vs. Whitehead (+200)

Thoughts: Babalu has been training with Erik Paulson and Josh Barnett for a couple of years now. With those two mad geniuses training him and building up his game plan, Whitehead’s facing a lot of trouble here. Sure, Whitehead trains out of the Xtreme Couture camp (one of the best in the world), but you have to ask yourself one question going into this fight:

Can Whitehead submit Babalu?

Our guess? Highly unlikely.

Whitehead’s toughest test was over two years ago to Keith Jardine and Whitehead lost that fight. His record of 21-5 looks great until you start looking at the list of opponents he’s faced and suddenly the bloom is off the rose.

This is not going to be an article bashing Mike Whitehead as a fighter. In fact, he’s a pretty decent fighter. He’s just facing a freight train this Saturday named Babalu.

Welterweights: Mike Pyle vs. Brett Cooper

Bodoglife: Pyle (-325) vs. Cooper (+250)
BetUS: Pyle (-350) vs. Cooper (+250)

Thoughts: Cooper made a name for himself by getting an upset win over Rory Markham last year in the IFL. Pyle, meanwhile, made a name for himself last year by making some critical comments regarding women fighting in MMA.

All needling aside, Pyle is the more-talented fighter going into this fight and he trains at a world-class camp in Xtreme Couture. Cooper is 8-4, while Pyle is 16-5-1. Interestingly enough, Pyle lost to Markham in 2006.

Pyle is the known quantity here with much more experience.