posted May 1, 2008 at 15:25 in UFC / MMA Articles

It was a quiet weekend in online betting for MMA but that doesn't mean nothing has been going on in the wagering world of mixed martial arts! Yesterday the new co-promotion between former PRIDE employees and K1 held their second show in Japan, and it went mostly according to the bookies' expectations. There was a crazy upset in the form of Canadian fighter Denis Kang getting subbed out by Gegard Mousasi, a dutch fighter known more for not being known at all. This is Kang's second loss in a row, and it will be interesting to see where his line ends up the next time he fights.

With UFC betting in Montreal finished, leaving nothing more than a warm tingly feeling in our pantalons, it's time to start looking forward to future UFC cards that are looking pretty damned awesome. Next up is UFC84 on May 24th with BJ Penn (-230) vs Sean Sherk (+180). If BJ Penn is training as hard on fighting as he is on trash talking, he'll win the fight hands down. Past constant reminders that Sherk was stripped for using steroids, Penn has promised to lick Sherk's blood off his gloves after beating him up - a move Penn coined the last time he fought against Joe Stevenson. And to think if pro wrestling whipped up a crazy Hawaiian champion who drank blood, they'd be called racist.

Tito Ortiz (+175) took time away from whatever Tito does when he's not attached at Jenna Jameson's hip to talk up his fight against Lyoto Machida (-220), which is also happening at UFC84. His argument? That he's been punched in the face really hard by Chuck Liddell, so being punched in the face by Lyoto Machida doesn't scare him. I'm sure that sounded a lot more threatening in his brain. Machida on the other hand came right out and has said he plans on using "distance, escaping, and technique" to defeat the Huntington Beach Bad Boy. You might as well say "I plan on boring Tito and everyone watching the fight to death". While it might not be a bad strategy, I don't think it's going to be a very popular one.

Onto news about UFC85 in the UK, Chuck Liddell was forced to pull out of his fight with Rashad Evans due to a pulled hamstring. Since all MMA fans are full time tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists, a picture of Chuck's groin area was released showing it flush with blood. Yep, it's about as pretty as it sounds. But not all is lost! New fights were announced quickly to fill the void left with the Iceman's departure, and they're actually a lot more interesting betting wise than Evans/Liddell was.

First off, Matt Hughes will be fighting Thiago Alves (who was the guy who just knocked Karo Parisyan out) in the new main event and Michael Bisping will be fighting Chris Leben. While lines haven't gone up on these fights yet, expect Hughes to be the heavy favorite against Alves - and expect me to sing Alves' praises to high heaven as a very sound underdog bet. No word on who'll be the underdog between Bisping and Leben - this is pretty much guaranteed to be an entertaining slugfest though.

The undercurrent going around the MMA scene is that the UFC plans on cutting somewhere along the lines of 50 fighters from their roster over the coming months. Following UFC83, losers Kalib Starnes, Travis Lutter and Joe Doerksen have all gotten pink slips. So if you see fighters beginning to engage with a little more fervor and a little more fear in their eyes, you now know why. Guys already sitting on the edge of being booted might end up fighting like a cornered mongoose (note to all of you: never corner a mongoose).

With his hamstring keeping him from fighting (no word yet on how it affects his ability to bow-chicka-wow-wow), Chuck Liddell has been spending his days trash talking Kimbo Slice, serving up point by point breakdowns on how Kimbo Slice is over rated and hasn't fought anyone decent yet. Kimbo Slice thus far has just looked angry and threatened violence back at Liddell, which is too bad because there's just so many avenues you could take to make fun of the Iceman lately, from his drug addled appearance on television to losing to a guy who's nickname is "The Dean of Mean" to having Tony Robbins give you pep talks. If there's one thing I've learned from writing about MMA fighters is they don't fear physical pain but the pain you can inflict upon their tender hearts and fragile egos with words is pretty surprising.

And that's it for this week in MMA! I hope you come back next week for another dose of mixed martial arts pseudo-news.

This Week in MMA written for exclusively for BetUS by Ryan Harkness of www.fightlinker.com