The UFC goes international this weekend with their first show in the United Arab Emirates when UFC 112: Invincible invades the Concert Arena in Abu Dhabi. There are two title bouts on the UFC 112 fight card, with the UFC Middleweight and UFC Lightweight championships on the line. The UFC Middleweight title hasn’t been defended for quite awhile due to a lengthy recovery time from elbow surgery for champion Anderson Silva. “The Spider” last fought at UFC 101 in August 2009, but that wasn’t a title defense. That night he fought Forrest Griffin as a Light Heavyweight and easily defeated him with a quick knockout in the first round.
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To find Silva’s last title defense you have to look back to UFC 97 in April 2009. He defeated Thales Leites by unanimous decision to record his fifth successful title defense. Silva may not have fought in the octagon in awhile, but the oddsmakers don’t expect him to show any rust after listing him as a huge -1100 favorite in this weekend’s bout. Challenging the formidable Silva at UFC 112 will be Demian Maia. He’s proven to be a smart technical fighter while posting a 12-1 MMA record with eight wins by submission and two by KO. He last fought at UFC 109 in February and defeated Dan Miller by unanimous decision. He’ll have his hands full versus Silva as a +600 underdog at Sportsbook. In Saturday night’s other title bout UFC Lightweight champion B.J. Penn faces challenger Frankie Edgar. Penn is also a big favorite in his bout at -850. His last fight was at UFC 107 in December where he defeated Diego Sanchez by TKO in the fifth round. That was Penn’s third successful title defense, but sandwiched between them was a loss to Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Welterweight title. Edgar has won his last three fights and has an impressive career MMA record of 11-1 with two wins by KO and three by submission. He last fought at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in December. He faced Matt Veach and won by submission in the second round after applying a rear naked choke. A win by Edgar on Saturday night would be a major upset, as he is listed as a +550 underdog.
UFC 112 Odds: Middleweight Odds: Anderson Silva -1100 Demian Maia +600 Lightweight Odds: B.J. Penn -850 Frankie Edgar +550 Welterweight Odds: Matt Hughes -360 Renzo Gracie +280 Light Heavyweight Odds: Phil Davis -600 Alexander Gustafsson +400 Middleweight Odds: Mark Munoz -185 Kendall Grove +155
