The UFC gives fans and sportsbooks alike the opportunity to engage in profitable action all the while enjoying two reckless fighters trying to knock each other’s teeth loose. A spectacular knockout is always exciting but it’s even more so when you know both you and the fighter are raking in some winnings. While picking the winner of the fight is as much science as it is luck, knowing which fights can reap the most rewards isn’t. UFC on FOX 21 will be taking place this weekend and the fight card has some pretty auspicious betting lines. Out of them all the matchup between Thibault Gouti and Chad Laprise is the most lucrative.
UFC on FOX 21
Thibault Gouti 2 ½ (-170) +250
Chad Laprise 2 ½ (+150) -300
This matchup will be headlining the early preliminaries for the UFC Fight Pass portion of the card. The UFC threw together this bout after Josh Emmett vs. Jeremy Kennedy was canceled due to Emmett sustaining an injury. UFC on FOX 21 will be held on Saturday the 27th in Vancouver, making this the first UFC on FOX even to be held in Canada, which, as it turns out, is good news for one of the fighters stepping into the octagon.
Chad Laprise is native to Ontario, Canada and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say he has home field advantage heading into this bout. The sportsbooks still don’t think that’s enough to give him an advantage, even if he’s had ample experience competing in the True North. Since Laprise signed with the UFC in early 2014, the native Ontarian has been scheduled on every Canadian fight card. Laprise’s start in the UFC showed plenty of promise, putting up a streak of 10 consecutive wins. Unfortunately, last year that streak came to an end when Francisco Trinaldo, a UFC veteran, handed the Canadian his first loss via stoppage. After this loss Laprise was looking to bounce back against Ross Pearson, but was unable to do so losing his second consecutive fight, this time by decision. Luckily for Laprise he isn’t the only fighter stepping into this bout with a pair of consecutive losses.
Gouti’s start in the UFC is eerily similar to Laprise; he started off impressively racking up 11 consecutive wins only to lose the next two fights in a row. Even though the Frenchman has one more win he is still coming in as the underdog, most likely due to Laprise’s impressive experience. Gouti’s striking is in no way sub-par, however, his grappling certainly is. Luckily enough for Gouti, Laprise prefers to keep the fight upright instead of taking it to the mat. Neither fighter is an exceptional grappler, and if this was a wrestling match, it’d be unclear how the sportsbooks would call the odds.
The reason Laprise is listed as the favorite can be attributed to his victory over Aubin-Mercier, the fighter Gouti most recently lost to. While that is certainly an acceptable way of doing math in the MMA, those who bet on sports know that what happens in the octagon is almost always unpredictable.
