The biggest fight of the night at UFC 109 Relentness will be the mixed martial arts fight between Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen. The online UFC betting lines should be closer than they currently are, however, the fact that Marquardt is a better grappler whicjh give him the onkline betting advantage.
Marquardt, a three-time Middleweight King of Pancrase Champion, is a BJJ black belt under Ricardo Murgel, He is very good on the ground and has beaten some very good ground fighters in his career such as Demian Maia, Wilson Gouveia, Thales Leites, Jeremy Horn, and Anderson Silva. Marquardt is also a second Degree Black Belt in Pancrase in Greg Jackson’s Gaidojutsu mixed martial arts team. Overall, Marquardt is a well-rounded grappler and has a distinct advantage over Sonnen in this category.
Sonnen is a wrester, r with wins over Paulo Filho,Renato Sobral, Dan Miller, Jason Miller, and Yushin Okami.
Since joining the UFC Marquardt has faced 9 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts in his last 13 fights with losses to Anderson Silva, Thales Leites and Ricardo Almeida. The only fight he legitimately lost was to Silva as his loss to Leites was by point deduction. His loss to Almeida was due to a mis-call by the referee.
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Though Sonnen does not have the grappling game he is a better wrestler than Marquardt. He was a two time National Champion, NCAA All-American and he was a US Olympic team alternate. Even though Sonnen has the wrestling advantage in this fight Marquardt’s dominance on the ground will nullify his game. Marquardt is a very good ground fighter on his back and if Sonnen was to use his wrestling in an attempt to take Marquardt, it will be his undoing.
Unfortunately for Sonnen, he will have to resort to fighting Marquardt in a striking battle. Marquardt has always worked on his game outside of grappling and has sought to improve his striking by combining it with kickboxing, Wing Chun and Kenpo. Though Sonnen likes to push the pace and use his size and strength to bully his opponents. The difference with his next fight is that he will not be able to intimidate Marquardt. Marquardt has the striking advantage and grappling advantage and it is only a matter of time before Marquardt is able to KO Sonnen.
Sonnen has a well-rounded skill set and he is good at a lot of things, but not great at anything. Of his 24 victories, Sonnen has had 15 of them go to the decision, which proves he can fight but does not tend to overwhelm his opponents. Marquardt on the other hand can fight from anywhere. If Sonnen is to stand a chance in this fight he will need to outwork Marquardt as he does not have the grappling nor striking power to beat Marquardt outright.
Sonnen will try to keep this fight standing as his last few losses in MMA have come by submission to high level grapplers. When Sonnen faced such opponents in the past, it took away from his wrestling game and he was forced to resort to striking. However, Marquardt is a very effective striker against whom Sonnen cannot defend.
This fight will most likely go to a decision which is the perfect prop bet to make. The UFC betting lines are pretty steep at -310 but Marquardt has the advantage in almost all areas and the areas in which he does not dominate will be nullified by his dominate grappling.
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Sleung is one of the world’s best mixed martial arts expert and is an expert UFC and MMA handicapping. Get all the latest MMA and UFC betting advice. If you want the latest handicapping advice and sports betting inside information on how to bet and handicap mixed martial arts for to the best MMA site in the world at www.fighting-mma.com
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