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Carrie Stroup here with your UFC Fight Night 72 betting odds for Bisping vs. Leites
Glasgow, Scotland
Michael Bisping (26-7-0) vs. Thales Leites (25-4-0)
Five Round Middleweight Bout
Sportsbook.ag Line: Leites -105, Bisping -125
Two seasoned veterans, Michael Bisping and Thales Leites, meet up across the pond at UFC Fight Night 72.
Bisping, a former winner of the Ultimate Fighter, has been around the UFC for what seems like forever with his first fight coming back in late 2006. He entered the circuit with 11 consecutive wins and ran that mark to 14 before taking his first defeat. He has not had the best of showings in recent fights, going 4-4 since the beginning of 2012 as does not have a TKO since a victory back in 2011. Overall, the 36-year-old has used the knockout to earn his most wins (15) while also getting seven by decision and four via the submission. He is coming off a nice victory in his most recent bout as he outlasted C.B Dollaway over three rounds with a unanimous decision. Bisping is a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and typically fights outside of the United States, so he should feel comfortable in Scotland.
Leites has had a ton more success in recent years and is currently riding an impressive eight-match winning streak with five of the fights being at the UFC level. During the solid stretch, the 33-year-old has knocked out his opponent twice, won by decision three times and has tallied three submissions. Leites has dominated in his last two times out, earning “Performance of the Night” honors each time as he defeated the likes of Francis Carmont and Tim Boetsch. It was his first two times earning such accolades and the Brazilian owns multiple fighting styles as he looks to continue his recent dominance.
Bisping has had a ton of experience as an MMA fighter and overall in his career he has been one of the more aggressive men with 4.39 significant strikes per minute in the octagon. Those strikes have landed at an accuracy rate of just 38%, but he has also been able to hold off his opponents attacks to the tune of 2.47 significant strikes per minute against him at a meager 32% accuracy. Even though he has not been putting together a ton of wins lately, he has still done much better than his opposition and in his last five times out has out-struck them 316-185 and had 75 significant strikes land in his defeat of Dollaway.
In his career, Bisping has earned 1.41 takedowns per 15 minutes, but does not have one in any of his last six bouts while being dropped seven times over that stretch. His takedown accuracy is just 44% heading into this one and as a result he typically does not have chances at submissions, which he attempts a mere 0.4 times per 15 minutes fighting. Look for Bisping to perform once again and despite not having the best of showings lately put up a tremendous fight.
While Leites has been phenomenal in his time as an MMA fighter, he typically wins with more strategy and ability than pure strength. He is getting just 2.00 significant strikes in per minute at 38% accuracy as his opponents are doing better with a mark of 2.64 significant strikes per minute with a solid 48% of those landing. That part of his game is not his strength, but what he can do often is get his opponents on the ground which he does with 2.59 takedown per 15 minutes and he used his one takedown and two submission attempts against Boetsch during his last fight, eventually ending it in an arm triangle.
His takedown percentage isn’t too stellar with 31% of his attempts ending in success as he is letting other fighters put him on the mat 63% of the time. His 1.6 submission attempts per 15 minutes in the octagon leads to plenty of wins for the Brazilian and that will be his best bet at winning in this bout.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
