UFC 200 Betting Odds Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne

Posted by Jordan Walterss on Wednesday,July 6, 2016 8:56, EDT in

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The most-hyped heavyweight fight on the terrific UFC 200 card this Saturday night in Las Vegas features Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt. But in all honesty, that’s not as important as a matchup between former champion Cain Velasquez and Travis Browne, as the winner might earn a title shot. Velasquez is a -305 favorite on the betting lines with Browne at +255 and the over/under rounds total at 1.5 (both at -110).

Quick Look at the UFC 200 Betting Odds Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne

Velasquez hasn’t competed since relinquishing the heavyweight crown to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188 last June in what was considered an upset. Werdum submitted the two-time UFC heavyweight champion at 2:13 of the third round via guillotine choke at the Mexico City Arena. Velasquez, whose parents are Mexican, apologized for the performance. It was his first appearance since October 2013 due to a knee injury. The 602-day layoff was the longest of his career.

Statistically speaking, the fight wasn’t a terrible performance by Velasquez. He landed dozens of punches on a crafty, skilled veteran (88, according to FightMetric) and scored four takedowns over two-and-a-half rounds. Just as importantly, he wobbled Werdum on multiple occasions before succumbing.

The 33-year-old Velasquez (13-2) was slated for a rematch with Werdum earlier this year, but a back injury forced Velasquez to withdraw from the Feb. 6 event that was originally known as UFC 196. Velasquez later underwent surgery to remove bone spurs that were pinching his sciatic nerve. The injury marked the latest in a long line of physical setbacks for Velasquez, and as a result, the UFC elected instead to award Velasquez’s title shot to Stipe Miocic at UFC 198.

Browne (18-3-1) is also 33. He was last in the Octagon in January at UFC Fight Night 81 and beat Matt Mitrione by third-round TKO (punches). Mitrione’s right eye took a bad beating due to both legal and illegal blows from Browne. The fight was close until Browne illegally gouged Mitrione’s right eye twice. A late right cross to the same eye built on the damage, and was the beginning of the end for Mitrione. His eye was pretty mangled and Mitrione officially appealed the result (to no avail).

Mitrione suffered two separate eye pokes from Browne during the fight in the same right eye that looked like it might stop the fight when the doctor was forced to look at him on the second occasion. The referee opted not to take a point away from Browne for the infraction and Mitrione continued to blink his way through the fight. By the end, when the referee finally put a stop to the carnage, the former “Ultimate Fighter” had a hematoma that looked like a golf ball hiding behind his eye.

Of late, Browne has alternated wins and losses, sandwiching victories over Mitrione and Brendan Schaub between defeats at the hands of Andrei Arlovski and Werdum. He is currently the UFC’s No. 7 ranked heavyweight.