UFC 97 Odds, Picks & Predictions: Anderson “The Spider” Silva (23-4-0) is a huge UFC 97 picks favorite to defend his middleweight title for a record fifth consecutive time when he enters the Octagon against fellow Brazilian Thales Leites (14-1-0) at UFC 97 Redemption on Saturday night in Montreal.
The consensus No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world is listed as –600 chalk on the BetUS.com UFC 97 Odds board for his main event bout at the Bell Centre, with Leites priced as a +350 underdog. Silva looked disinterested against Patrick Cote six months ago at UFC 90, getting the win after the Canadian injured his knee in the third round. Capitalizing on the champion’s complacency might be the only way Leites can pull off the upset, as Silva goes for his ninth straight victory in UFC.
The UFC 97 undercard figures to overshadow the main event, partially because of Silva’s dominance but mostly due to who’s scheduled to enter the Octagon before the middleweight champ enters the cage. Chuck Liddell (21-6-0) is back for what could be his last fight in UFC if the “Iceman” can’t turn in a big performance against Mauricio Rua (17-3-0), who is set as a +150 underdog against the former light heavyweight champion.
Liddell (-200) has to prove that he’s still an elite martial artist at age 39 after losses to Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, and Quinton Jackson to UFC 97 Predictions Experts. Backers of the “Iceman” contend that while Liddell isn’t the fighter he was when he was undefeated from 2003-2007, his losses to Evans and Jackson were the results of one punch (on each occasion). In their eyes, Liddell didn’t get dominated by the duo, and could have easily been the victor in his split-decision loss to Jardine.
