Tim Sylvia vs. Fedor Emelianenko Odds

Written by:
Tyrone Black
Published on:
Jul/18/2008
Affliction Banned

Imagine if you will Tim Sylvia beating the one and only powerhouse Fedor Emelianenko?

With two big MMA events taking place on a single night, the odds of a huge underdog winning dramatically increase.  For gamblers, the payout can prove massive.  And perhaps the underdog that stands the best chance of beating his opponent is none other than Tim Sylvia.

Make no mistake about it: Tim Sylvia vs. Fedor Emelianenko is the fight that everyone will be waiting for.  Emelianenko's odds, however, are way out of reach for the average gambler and those who might otherwise place a bet on him as "the lock" might have to think twice. 

Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today sees a strong possibility that Emelianenko could lose to the highly respected Tim Sylvia:

Despite Emelianenko's 27-1 record, the quality of his opponents have been questioned. He also has fought just six times in the past three years and twice in the past 15 months.

Sylvia (24-4, 16 knockouts) isn't discrediting Emelianenko's record. "He's a bad dude.... Every time they put somebody in front of him, he beats him," Sylvia said.

A Sylvia win would pay out $325 for every $100 bet at Bookmaker.com.

"Emelianenko has little value with a better than likely chance Sylvia could win this one," expressed Don Shapiro of Gambling911.com.

He's not the only one who feels this way. 

Robert Rousseau of MMAFighting.com agrees this will be a very close fight.

On one hand, Fedor hasn't fought a legitimate heavyweight contender since taking on Mark Hunt back at PRIDE: Shockwave 2006 on 12/31/06. That sure is a long time. Still, he did easily defeat current UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira twice before that. In fact, he literally manhandled him, powering out of submission attempts and chucking him around the ring. Further, at the height of Mirko Cro Cop's prime, Fedor also defeated him rather handily.

But then came the lack of action. A time period where Fedor fought an excellent, but much lighter fighter in Matt Lindland (a Bodog Fight card) and a giant striker in Hong Man Choi with little in the line of ground skills. So what do we believe in, the 27-1 overall MMA record or the recent lack of action?

Hard to say. Still, if we see the guy that was fighting in PRIDE not too long ago show up to take on Sylvia this is what to expect.

Fedor Emelianenko would take some punishment on his feet against Sylvia. But eventually, despite the big man's strong takedown defense and excellent size, would probably get the fight to the ground. There he might wear Sylvia out.

But this one could go Sylvia's way via knockout, even if we do see the best Fedor we've ever seen.

Larry Vollmer Jr of LoHude.com takes it one step further and predicts as "split decision win" by Tim Sylvia.

I think Tim is going to use his long jab to keep Fedor outside of takedown range. His cardio is good, so I think he will utilize this strategy to take this fight in the later rounds. I don't think this fight will be terribly exciting; Sylvia will do just enough to squeak a decision past "The Last Emperor", silencing his critics world wide.

Bookmaker.com had odds on all the MMA fights for Saturday night July 19

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Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com

Originally published July 19, 2008 10:38 pm EST

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