UFC 196 Preview: McGregor vs Diaz 3/5

• 25 February 2016

Scramble did Dana White and his management team did to provide us a main event for our UFC 196 preview.  Dos Anjos broke his foot leaving a void with Conor McGregor having no opponent.  A slew of opponents were considered with Nick Diaz getting the shot at taking down the aspiring Irishman.  Good Morning and welcome to HRWager.  Today we will look at some pre fight analysis as well as which way the line has moved since it came out.  All of this for your sports investment speculation today from the HRW.

UFC 196 Preview : McGregor and Diaz Jaw

One of the ways to gauge the tone and tenor of the fighters approaching the bout is with the pre fight press conferences.  Mostly for bluster, there are nuggets that can be gleaned from the tape.  Here we have a clip from Fighthype.com which features five key minutes of the banter back and forth.  Beyond the steroids accusation and then non answer from Diaz, Connor McGregor pontificates on the points of when and why Diaz will go down.

Sharps Take Heed

Soft body and lack of preparation in the fight will be Diaz’s undoing as he will not escape the first round.  That and the comfort that Connor says he has at two higher weight classes are the points need to be judged.  Linesmakers agree with this as the openers were near the -360 mark on the Irishman.  This has had some interest from early money as Conor is currently an even more chalky -425 to win.  However, the first round KO prediction is not met with the same enthusiasm.  The under 2 1/2 is in the -185 range with far less vig on this total.

Per usual, if one is going to entertain chalk at -400 + then parlays are the usual course.  It takes some of the sting out of upfront investment for those that are certain that Conor will cruise in this one.  We still have over a week before UFC 196 on March 5th.  Take heed and lock in the prices right now before the public comes on board and lessens the value for the main event.