Santiago Ponzinibbio is among those whom the MMA betting lines favor at UFC on Fox: Lawler vs. dos Anjos. As one can see, Ponzi is not featured neither in the name of the event nor its poster. We’ll get to that shortly, though. The Argentine is featured in our title (because it sounded good) so we’ll start with him and Mike Perry. Ponzinibbio has won his last five fights straight, improving his UFC record to 7-2 – four of which he has finished in the first round.
Perry rebounded nicely from his first UFC – and ever – loss with back-to-back performance of the night, KO wins. He elbowed Jake Ellenberger into oblivion in the second round at UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Lobov on April 22nd in Nashville. Then he kneed Alex Reyes to kingdom come in the first at UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Branch on September 16th in Pittsburgh.
UFC betting lines:
Mike Perry 1½ (-105) +165
Santiago Ponzinibbio 1½ (-115) -190
Ricardo Lamas vs. Josh Emmett should make for an entertaining scrap. My breakdown on #UFCWinnipeg’s co-main event: https://t.co/XBpqy8tjcI
— Dan Tom (@DanTomMMA) December 13, 2017
Lamas has won three of his last four bouts. That includes the last two in a row. He submitted Charles Oliveira with a guillotine choke in the second round at The Ultimate Fighter Latin America 3 Finale: dos Anjos vs. Ferguson on November 5, 2016 in Mexico. He then TKO’d Jason Knight in the first at UFC 214 on July 29th in Anaheim.
Emmett got off to a promising start in the UFC with wins over Jon Tuck and Scott Holtzman. Both came by decision, one unanimous and one split, in the third round. However, he suffered his first career loss to Desmond Green, also by decision and also in the third. This turn of events may have propelled his decision to return to featherweight. Be that as it may, his featherweight UFC debut was successful. He defeated Felipe Arantes (by decision; how else?) in the third round at UFC Fight Night: Cerrone vs. Till on October 21st in Poland.
MMA betting lines:
Josh Emmett 2½ (-185) +235
Ricardo Lamas 2½ (+160) -275
1) Two former champions who are looking for another title shot and also always bring the thunder? 'Ruthless' Robbie Lawler vs Rafael dos Anjos is going to be a straight up banger, y'all. #UFConFOX26 pic.twitter.com/sh7eS0EJHR
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) December 14, 2017
Lawler spend roughly a year licking his wounds after he lost the UFC Welterweight Championship to Tyron Woodley via knockout in the first round at UFC 201 on July 30, 2016 in Atlanta. The long layover didn’t seem to affect him, though. His triumphant return to the Octagon had him besting Donald Cerrone by unanimous decision in the third at UFC 214 on July 2th in California.
Not unlike Emmet above, Dos Anjos decision to move from lightweight to welterweight seemed to be inspired by the back-to-back losses to Eddie Alvarez and Tony Ferguson. His divisional debut pitted him against Tarec Saffiedine, whom he beat by UD in the third round at UFC Fight Night: Holm vs. Correia on June 17th in Singapore. He followed that up with a submission by arm-triangle choke win over Neil Magny in the first at UFC 215 on September 9th in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
MMA betting lines:
Rafael Dos Anjos 2½ (-155) -115
Robbie Lawler 2½ (+135) -105
- UFC on Fox: Lawler vs. dos Anjos
- Promotion: Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Date: December 16, 2017
- Venue: Bell MTS Place
- City: Winnipeg, Canada