The official betting lines for “UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy” were posted earlier this week by our friends over at BetUS. As expected, Georges St-Pierre is a favorite heading into his defense against Dan Hardy, but -800???
That’s right, the welterweight champ is an early 8-to-1 favorite to retain his crown against Hardy, who checks in as a 5-to-1 ‘dog.
The last time GSP was such a heavy favorite was in his first title defense against Matt Serra at UFC 69 where he went as high as -1600, and we all know how that night turned out for the “Frenchie.”
Even in their mulligan at UFC 83 when most expected St-Pierre to violently avenge his humiliating loss, which he ultimately did, he was still only -450 at gametime. So, it’s a little surprising the gambling Gods have rated the champ at -800 when he meets Hardy.
There’s really only one way to beat MMA’s baddest 170-pounder (Please See: Puncher’s Chance), and Hardy would certainly prefer nothing more than an all-out shootout as it would greatly increase the likelihood of him landing that one fortuitous strike.
If GSP can wrestle his way to another win, like he has in his past six dominant contests, then it will be obvious why he’s such a big favorite because Hardy will never get a chance to tee off. However, Hardy will be afforded a few opportunities to land leather before the champ takes him to the mat.
On a side note, it’s interesting to see former heavyweight champ Frank Mir is only -155 against Shane Carwin, who is a slight underdog (+125) in his first UFC title fight.
Here are the current betting lines for the scraps going down inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on March 27th:
Rousimar Palhares -240
Tomasz Drwal +190Ricardo Almeida -155
Matt Brown +125Jim Miller -400
Mark Bocek +300Thiago Alves -140
John Fitch +110Ben Saunders -150
Jake Ellenberger +120Frank Mir -155
Shane Carwin +125Georges St Pierre -800
Dan Hardy +500
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