UFC 109 Odds: Nate Marquardt vs Chael Sonnen UFC 109 Picks

Written by Matt Foust

Saturday, 06 February 2010

UFC 109 Odds: The UFC returns to the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas tonight as former champions Randy "The Natural" Couture and Mark "The Hammer" Coleman headline UFC 109: Relentless. The 11 fight card also features a non-title fight between top middleweight contenders Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen. The winner of tonight's bout will face the victor of April's UFC 112 battle between current middleweight champion Anderson Silva and No.1 challenger Vitor Belfort. Tonight's event is scheduled to get underway 7:15pm ET, but the first televised fight can be seen live on Pay-Per-View at 10:00pm ET. UFC 109 Odds and Picks at Bodog.com have Marquardt listed as a -525 moneyline favorite.

Nate Marquardt has been pining for a rematch with Anderson Silva since losing to the champ at UFC 73 in July of 2007. UFC 109 Odds: Nate Marquardt vs Chael Sonnen UFC 109 Picks Marquardt has made his case largely in the Octagon, though, going 4-1 since Silva defeated him. The Colorado native's only loss in that stretch came via split decision in June of 2008 (Thales Leites).

The 30 year old Marquardt, who possesses a 32-8-2 professional MMA record, improved his UFC tally to 8-2 last August with a stunning first round knockout of Demain Maia.

Marquardt, who has finished his last three opponents by KO/TKO, indicated he is confident that Sonnen will be just another stepping stone in the road back to Silva.

"Everything that he does, I do better, and that's one of the main differences," Marquardt said. "That's what makes me No. 2 in the world and him at No. 6. I have knockout power and I haven't seen knockout power from him. He's a grinder, but I can grind too and then I can knock you out."

Chael Sonnen comes into this evening's skirmish having won four of his last five fights inside the Octagon. Sonnen's last conquest came in October of 2009 when he won by unanimous decision over Yushin Okami. The victory improved the Oregon resident's UFC record to 6-4 and his overall record to 25-10-1.

All six of Sonnen's wins inside the Octagon have come via unanimous decision while all four of his losses were by submission.

Sonnen has garnered a great deal of attention of late, not because of his fighting prowess, but due to his talking skills. The 32 year old has used the lead up to tonight's fight as an occasion to blast Anderson Silva, referring to the much feared champ as a 'fraud'. He also took time to get in a dig at Marquardt too.

"His (Marquardt) win/loss record is going to take a little hit on the 6th," Sonnen said.

Bodog.com UFC 109 Odds: Nate Marquardt vs Chael Sonnen UFC 109 Picks

Randy Couture -575 vs Mark Coleman +375

Nate Marquardt -525 vs Chael Sonnen +325

Demian Maia -500 vs Dan Miller +325

Matt Serra -160 vs Frank Trigg +130

Mike Swick -200 vs Paulo Thiago +160

Mac Danzig -500 vs Justin Buchholz +325

Melvin Guillard -105 vs Ronys Torres -125

Rob Emerson -125 vs Phillipe Novar-105

Phil Davis -295 vs Brian Stann +235

Chris Tuchscherer -250 vs Tim Hague +190