UFC 98 Odds

Written by Matt Foust

Saturday, 23 May 2009

UFC 98 will take place tonight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event, which can be seen live on Pay-Per-View, is scheduled to get underway at 10:00pm ET. The 11 fight card features a light heavyweight title bout between Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida and the long-awaited grudge match between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. UFC 98 Odds at Sportsbook.com have the former welterweight champion, Matt Hughes, listed as a -240 moneyline favorite.

Matt Hughes has not seen the inside of the Octagon since losing to Thiago Alves in June of 2008. Hughes, who has hinted that this will probably be his last fight, severely injured his knee in that battle and has taken the last year to let it heal.

Prior to the Alves fight, the 35 year old had shown signs that he was perhaps losing some of his prowess inside the cage. Hughes had a unanimous decision victory over Chris Lytle sandwiched between losses to Georges St. Pierre.

St. Pierre dominated the Illinois native in their last go round, earning a submission in Matt Hughes-like fashion at 4:54 in the second round.

Despite his age and injury issues, Hughes has indicated he had no trouble getting prepared to fight Serra. Obviously, given the former champion's wrestling background, he focused a great deal of his training on getting his nemesis to the mat. And MMA fans should look for that to be his strategy when things get underway this evening.

For Matt Serra, the wait to return to the cage as been even longer than Hughes' interval. The jiu jitsu specialist last fought in April of 2008 when was pummeled by Georges St. Pierre. Had he won that fight, he would have faced Hughes long before tonight.

Serra is certainly a better stand up fighter than Hughes, but he will likely have a difficult time keeping the fight on it's feet. This fact has not been lost on the New Yorker and he has trained with that in mind.

"He takes guys down, he beats 'em up and that's what he's gonna try to do to me. And I'm gonna be prepared for it," Serra said, the UFC 98 odds underdog in tonight's skirmish. "I have really gone back to my roots with the BJJ. I have been working with Renzo Gracie a lot because I feel that is where I can counter what Hughes is good at."

Sportsbook.com UFC 98 Odds:

Lyoto Machida (-200) vs Rashad Evans (+160)

Matt Hughes (-240) vs Matt Serra (+190)

Sean Sherk (-365) vs Frank Edgar (+285)

Phillipe Novar (-500) vs Kyle Bradley (+300)

Yoshiyuki Yoshida (-525) vs Brandon Wolff (+325)

Xavier Foupa-Pokam (-200) vs Drew McFedries (+160)

Dan Miller (-180) vs Chael Sonnen (+150)

Brock Larson (-290) vs Chris Wilson (+230)

Pat Barry (-500) vs Tim Hague (+300)

Andre Gusmao (-155) vs Krzysztof Soszynski (+125)

George Roop (-165) vs Dave Kaplan (+135)