This Week in MMA – November 14th – Lesnar, Couture and More!

Hello and welcome back to another week here at This Week in MMA. Those of you still peeved at Paulo Filho's performance last week at WEC 36 can at least take some solace in the fact that he has given up his middleweight title. After coming in 4 pounds over the 185 pound limit, his fight with underdog Chael Sonnen was downgraded to a non-title bout. But Filho promised that if he lost, he would deliver the strap to Sonnen. Three embarrassing rounds of inaction later and Filho was handed a unanimous decision loss. According to his camp: "The belt is in the mail."

I like TUF7 winner Amir Sadollah, but it wasn't going to keep me from putting some money down on his opponent Nick Catone at this weekend's UFC 91 if the odds were right. While I think everyone agrees that Amir is still greener than the grass in the White House's lawn, fame does funny things with odds and I was looking forward to seeing Catone come in the underdog. Alas, we didn't even get to see the odds on this one before Sadollah had to pull out of the fight with a leg infection. The UFC has scrapped the fight completely and I'm betting we'll see it rescheduled soon enough.

At least we still have Joe Stevenson (+145) vs Kenny Florian (-185) to look forward to! Joe has been assigned the underdog role by the oddsmakers and he's not too happy about it. Stevenson has paid his dues ... with a 29-8 record you can't deny he's got more experience than Florian and arguably he has faced tougher opposition. But while Joe might complain about the situation, I'm more than happy to take advantage of the odds. I expect Stevenson to take Florian down and control the fight on the ground ... similar to how Sean Sherk defeated Florian just over a year ago.

At the best of times, I'd tell you that Wanderlei Silva (-120) vs Quinton Jackson (-120) would be a toss up, and the odds reflect that. But considering Jackson's recent mental issues and his switch to a less than stellar team in the UK's Wolfslair, I'm starting to think that Wanderlei Silva is really starting to look like the more stable choice between the two. Let's just hope he keeps his eye on the ball, because he recently spoke to the press and implied that the UFC was looking to give the winner of this fight a title shot.

Last but not least, the UFC has finally signed the fight we all knew was going to be happening on January 31st: BJ Penn vs Georges St Pierre for the welterweight title. The odds aren't out for this one yet, but tickets will be starting this weekend. While Brock Lesnar (-125) vs Randy Couture (-105) might be the fight that intrigues the mainstream, Penn vs St Pierre is pure red meat for us purists: a clash between two fighters in the top five pound for pound list. If you play your bets right this weekend, perhaps you'll have enough extra money lying around to get your ass to Vegas to see it live!

So that's it for this week. Check back next week as we sift through the results of Saturday's UFC 91 card and don't forget to check out my underdog picks in the BetUS locker room later this week!

Written exclusively by Ryan Harkness of www.fightlinker.com