posted May 22, 2008 at 19:01 in UFC / MMA Articles

UFC 84 is a great event for sports betting aficionados like you and me because it features a number of competitive fights which could go either way. Overall, I haven't seen a card this ripe for underdog online betting wins in a while. Let's take a look, shall we?

BJ Penn (-250) vs. Sean Sherk (+185)

BJ is coasting on two dominating wins over guys like Jens Pulver and Joe Stevenson, but let me remind you of something: Jens Pulver is now fighting at featherweight while BJ Penn used to fight up to welterweight. That's a 25 pound difference. And while Joe Stevenson is pretty talented, I wouldn't place him in the same league as Penn and Sherk.

To figure out how this fight will go, let's look at the kind of fighters BJ Penn has the most trouble with: wrestlers with good top control. And what are Sean Sherk's strengths? Great wrestling with good top control. Sherk also used to fight up at welterweight and is known as a HUGE lightweight. He uses his strength and cardio to stifle people's skill and sap their endurance. That fact coupled with BJ Penn's notoriously shaky cardio should make you think twice before counting Sean Sherk out.

Tito Ortiz (+160) vs. Lyoto Machida (-210)

Lyoto Machida is coming in as the new hotness to Tito Ortiz' old and busted. But those of you who are entranced by Machida's 12-0 record are forgetting that Tito's only losses in the past 8 years have come at the hands of Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. Past that, he's always managed to win (except that time he turned his win into a draw with a point-deduction fence grab).

A dedicated and hungry Tito can beat nearly anyone in the UFC, and it's simply foolish to count him out, especially against someone like Machida who hasn't shown any amazing power in his standup or wrestling or anything really. Machida is a smart fighter who uses positioning and his striking to frustrate his opponents. But can he survive the takedowns of Tito Ortiz, and what does he look like on his back? No one really knows the answer to that question.

As I mentioned earlier, a hungry Tito is a dangerous Tito. And there's no doubt that he considers this fight to be the most important thing in his life right now on account of the animosity between himself and UFC management.

Wanderlei Silva (-175) vs. Keith Jardine (+135)

Keith Jardine has made a UFC career out of frustrating his opponets and taking them to decisions ... 3 out of his 5 wins in the organization came via judge's scorecard. He's never taken on an opponent known as an aggressive striker like Wanderlei Silva, except when he lost to Houston Alexander in 48 seconds at UFC 71. Even Chuck Liddell is known more as a counter-puncher, which allowed Jardine to implement a strategy of standing on the outside and peppering Liddell with leg kicks.

This isn't going to work against Wanderlei Silva, who has the Muay Thai skills to negate Jardine's kicks and the aggression to keep Jardine from dictating the pace of the fight. And say what you will about the poor performance of fighters from Japanese organizations ... Silva has a record that speaks for itself with two brutal wins over current Light Heavyweight champ Quinton Jackson. In his fight against Chuck Liddell he took a licking and kept on ticking, proving that he could still take the hardest hits and keep coming. Simply put, Jardine doesn't have the firepower to finish this fight, and I don't think he has the skill to keep Wanderlei from being the aggressor.