A major drawcard for this afternoon’s UFC 200, will peg Brock Lesnar against local Mark Hunt. Lesnar has not been seen in action since his loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 in 2011, while Hunt carries first round knockouts in his last two fights into this meeting. I’m happy to back the trend and Hunt to win by KO or TKO.
Women’s Bantamweight Champion Miesha Tate defends her title for the first time this afternoon, against Brazilian Amanda Nunes. Tate’s form has been nothing short of excellent recently, but Nunes also carries a strong record into the fight, highlighted by nine knockout victories. Nunes represents excellent value as an outsider, and I am happy to again back the trend of the Women’s Bantamweight Title changing hands.
North Melbourne’s steady decline continued via a comfortable loss to the Crows most recently, and they are charged with overcoming the similarly-positioned Eagles in Perth today. At home the Eagles deserve to be favourites, but the Kangaroos are capable of covering a 20.5 line and are more than worth consideration.
Penrith host the Sharks in the today’s sole NRL fixture. The Panthers have been installed as outright $1.60 favourites in head-to-head markets on account of the Sharks missing Paul Gallen, Jack Bird, Andrew Fifita and James Maloney to Origin duties. The Sharks have won 13 in a row leading into this fixture and that has occurred not only because of the four Origin reps, but also players like Chad Townsend who remain in the team this week. Matt Moylan is a huge loss for the Panthers, and I am happy to take them on in favour of the Sharks extending their record.