UFC 102 Odds Couture vs. Nogueira - Couture Favored in UFC Betting

The octagon rolls into Oregon on Saturday night at 10:00pm EST on pay-per-view (PPV) featuring a full card of exciting match-ups in UFC 102 odds, especially the heavyweight main event between Randy Couture (16-9) and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1-1). Both fighters are legends of the sport and both are coming off losses. Couture took a pounding in his last fight at the hands of Brock Lesnar for UFC 91 and many sports betting handicappers have been wondering if the 46-year old former champion should just hang up the towel. In his last fight in UFC odds against Lesnar, weight played a major factor as Couture just couldn’t overcome the 45 lbs difference.

Although Nogueira also holds a 20lbs weight advantage over Couture, “The Natural” doesn't seem to be worried. “Nogueira’s probably only about 10 pounds bigger than I am, so size isn’t really the issue,” said Couture. Despite being 2-3 in UFC odds for his last five fights, Couture just isn’t quite ready to retire and online sportsbooks don’t see this fight to be his last either favoring Couture over Nogueira in UFC betting. Couture has brought in two-time Muay Thai world champion Quenton Chong for UFC 102 to help combat the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu of Nogueira. Although Couture is in by no means a Muay Thai fighter, Chong feels that his stretching rituals will help get Randy back in the ring against Lesnar.

"When I started working with him, his hips were stiff," Chong said. "His hips were so bad that he couldn't kick at all. I have helped him with stretching. In just two months, I have noticed a major difference." Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira is no spring chicken at 33 but the 10-year veteran with 31 MMA wins in UFC betting, is not a beginner either. Nogueira has been looking for a win in UFC odds since he lost the interim heavyweight title to Frank Mir at UFC 92. He was battling staph infection days before the fight and the result in sports betting was a TKO at 1:54 in the 2nd round. “Bad fights happen, you know? As a fighter you got to be 100 percent,” said Nogueira. “I feel like I have to perform way better than the last match. I have to work more because this fight is serious and my opponent is very good.”