posted April 17, 2008 at 15:26 EST in UFC / MMA Free Picks

MMA betting is a roller coaster ride of fun and emotions. Most sports go on over the course of a few hours, giving you a chance to slowly sink into despair as your team slips behind or rise in anticipation as they surge ahead. With MMA though, you never know if a fight is going to last 15 minutes or 15 seconds. The elderly are not advised to bet on this sport, as upsets like CroCop / Gonzaga and Serra / St Pierre tend to put those with weak hearts in the hospital.

This weekend's UFC 83 is another perfect opportunity for a lot of underdogs to shock the world by taking out their highly favored opponents. I'm not going to give you a straight breakdown of the fights like most people. I'm here to give you an education on some underdog action worth considering.

Georges St. Pierre -500 vs Matt Serra +350

The odds aren't as wide as they were the first time they fought, but when you own a guy as badly as Matt Serra did, the oddsmakers start the lines off a lot closer. You've got a lot of question marks around this fight to consider: is Serra's style GSP's kryptonite? Were those punches from the first fight a fluke or did Serra's striking ability finally click? Is Georges St Pierre going to crack under the pressure? With odds like these, the only people betting on Georges are doing so out of fan loyalty and probably to silence the doubting voices in their own heads.

Rich Franklin -400 vs Travis Lutter +300

People hate Travis Lutter's guts for missing weight in his title fight against Anderson Silva last year. But Lutter actually did a better job against Anderson Silva than Franklin did. Twice. A testament to that is the fact that this fight was even booked - the UFC is so desperate for legitimate middleweight contenders that they're willing to throw Lutter back into the mix. Lutter is another fighter with seriously slick submissions - if he gets a hold of your arm, he'll finish the fight. On the other side of the betting line, Rich Franklin is coming off of a second brutal loss to Anderson Silva and an uninspired win against Okami.

Mac Danzig -500 vs Mark Bocek +350

When you spend a couple months on TV beating scrubs on the Ultimate Fighter, people tend to think you're invincible. People thought the same about Michael Bisping until he had serious trouble in his last three UFC fights. While Mac Danzig looks pretty good, you cant ignore the fact that Danzig is currently riding a huge wave of hype. Bocek on the other hand is a virtual unknown. Well, here's the deal: his grappling creds include a World Cup championship, three Pan Am medals, a North American Abu Dhabi trials title, two Grapplers Quest US National Championships, and five Canadian grappling championships. Any time you've got a guy this slick in jiu jitsu, it's foolish to count him out.