posted June 6, 2008 at 13:35 in UFC / MMA Articles

Well, last week's EliteXC betting on CBS show is over and done but I can pretty much guarantee that a good number of people who bet on the fights are frothing at the mouth. Scott Smith versus Robbie Lawler was ruled a no contest when Robbie accidentally reached out and slid his fingers one knuckle up into Scott Smith's eye socket. Dispite running around the ring and screaming his head off, officials would not let Smith continue (much to the relief of anyone who had put substantial sports betting coin on him).

Next up was Gina Carano versus Kaitlin Young. Controversy struck once again when officials declared Young unfit to answer the bell for the third round, giving Carano the win. While you never know what could have happened in the third, Carano had figured Young's distance out and was banging her around like an American Gladiator opponent in Joust. Young leaves the fight looking like the Phantom of the Opera, and Gina picks up another win.

Last but not least, Kimbo Slice and James Thompson got it on in controversial fashion. Rumors of early taps from Kimbo have been cleared up by both fighters and the ref as bogus, but there are still a lot of questions being asked about why the fight wasn't stopped when Thompson pinned Slice down in the corner of the cage and landed 71 consecutive unanswered blows. And yes, that's a real statistic! Follow this up with an arguably early stoppage in the third round favoring Kimbo, and you have half the internet collectively screaming "Fix!"

Personally, I'd lean more towards ineptitude on account of the New Jersey Athletic Commission on all three fights. Which I actually find more depressing than the idea of a fix.

Fortunately for us all, we have another big UFC event coming up and while the road to UFC 85 has been fraught with endless injuries and line up changes, I have to hope God has gotten his jollies out already and will leave us with a nice bland and incident free event. So let's break down some news that'll help you make some sweet green off of it!

For those of you who failed at math or just hate digging around for your calculator, BetUS has added a really handy sports wagering bet calculator to their UFC landing page that will let you know at the click of a button how much you can make off the fights occurring this Saturday. Hopefully this frees up your brain so you will remember that UFC 85 is in the UK, which means it starts 5 hours earlier than normal. While you have the option of watching the PPV live in the afternoon or later at night, remember to get your bets in before things get going!

Fabricio Werdum (+160) has been relatively quiet compared to Brandon Vera (-200), who continues to upload videos of his training on a regular basis. That fact combined with Vera's general popularity have moved Werdum from standing at (EV) two weeks ago to a juicier (+160). Fabricio has been training with the Chute Boxe academy, whom are known for their aggressive striking style. It will be interesting to see if this will help him be more competitive on his feet in this fight. He lost his last match against Andrei Arlovski because he couldn't bait his opponent into a ground war.

If Nate Marquardt (-170) loses, it won't be for lack of good training partners. The middleweight contender has benefited from visits from Georges St Pierre, Roger Huerta, and Duane 'Bang' Ludwig to prepare him against jiu jitsu specialist Thales Leites (+140). Whatever the result, you'll be able to see the fight on the pay per view portion. Originally slated as a dark match, the fight was promoted to the main card when Rashad Evans pulled out of the event due to having no decent opponents left to face.

Michael Bisping (-350) is an interesting guy. He claims he doesn't want the fight to devolve into mud slinging but then straight out says he does absolutely everything better than his opponent Jason Day (+250). Day obviously doesn't agree - he called out Bisping right after defeating Alan Belcher in Montreal: another guy who thought he represented no real threat.

The closest UFC betting odds on this event are on Mike Swick (-125) vs Marcus Davis (-105). This has to do with former contender Swick looking like poop in his last few performances and former journeyman Marcus Davis knocking fools out like it ain't no big thang. Swick blamed his last poor performance against Josh Burkman on constantly having to defend takedowns. He won't have to worry about that in this fight, because Davis has made it clear that he intends to try and turn this fight into a stand up battle.

A new title fight has been added to UFC 87 in August: Georges St Pierre vs Jon Fitch. In anticipation of this bout, St Pierre has flown down to Brazil to train with the legendary Gracie Barra team. In a sport where too many fighters stick with the same coaches and training partners all the time, I'm impressed when someone heads out in search of new things to learn.

Tito Ortiz has made it official: he will not return to the UFC. While UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta put an offer on the table that is rumored to be higher than any other promotion might match, Ortiz rejected it and is not weighing his options as a freelance fighter. For now, he's concentrating on promoting his new autobiography "This is Gonna Hurt", and trying to impregnate his girlfriend Jenna Jameson.

Ryan Harkness is the head editor of the mixed martial arts community site Fightlinker.com and host of the top rated MMA podcast The Low Blow.