UFC 97 Preview

Anderson “The Spider” Silva (23-4-0) is a huge favorite to defend his UFC 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 –525 chalk for his main event bout at the Bell Centre, with Leites priced as a +325 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 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 +145 underdog against the former light heavyweight champion.

Liddell (-175) has to prove that he’s still an elite martial artist at age 39 after losses to Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, and Quinton Jackson. 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.

Polish bruiser Krzysztof Soszynski (17-9-1) is seeing chalk for his light heavyweight bout with Brian Stenn (6-1-0), who comes into Montreal as a +150 dog. Soszynski (-180) is an International Fight League veteran and was a semifinalist on season eight of The Ultimate Fighter, and certainly has the experience edge over Stenn. This is the first fight in UFC for Stenn, who is coming off a TKO loss to Steve Cantwell (7-1-0) at World Extreme Cagefighting 35 in August.

Cantwell (+200) isn’t expected to get the win in his matchup with Luiz Cane (10-1-1) at UFC 97, with Cane listed as a sizable –240 fave. The Brazilian scored a second round TKO over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at UFC 89 back on October 18, although bettors should tread lightly on Cane; that fight was the longest of his career to date.

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