Despite stepping in as a late replacement for local favorite Mark Hunt, former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum (22-7) will enter the Octagon as a prohibitive favorite at UFC Fight Night 121 this Saturday in Sydney, Australia. Facing Top 10 contender Marcin Tybura (16-2), Werdum is listed as massive -365 chalk as he looks to move to 3-1 since losing his title belt to Stipe Miocic.
Tybura is a +275 underdog and has won three in a row since falling to Timothy Johnson in his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 86 early last year. He is coming off a unanimous-decision win over Andrei Arlovski at UFC Fight Night 111 in Singapore on June 17 and would have been a smaller dog versus Hunt.
Werdum lost a controversial majority decision to Alistair Overeem at UFC 213 on July 8 but then rebounded to stop Walt Harris with a first-round armbar submission three months later at UFC 216. This bout will be a little more than a month after his last fight.
In the co-main event, Australian native Bec Rawlings (7-6) will get an opportunity to prove she still belongs in the UFC when she takes on fellow Australian Jessy Rose-Clark (7-4, 1 No-Contest) in a battle of women’s strawweights.
Rawlings is a solid -160 favorite even though she is not currently ranked among the Top 15 115-pounders by the UFC after losing to Paige VanZant and Tecia Torres in her last two bouts. Torres beat her via UD at UFC Fight Night 104 on February 4 after Rawlings missed weight.
Meanwhile, Clark will make her promotional debut in her home country off a split-decision win over Carina Damm at Titan FC 45 on August 18. She is a +130 underdog and had dropped her previous two fights, including a UD loss to former UFC veteran Sarah Kaufman, who challenged Ronda Rousey for the Strikeforce title in 2012.
Clark had started 5-1 in her pro MMA career, winning the XFC Australia Bantamweight Championship and Roshambo MMA Bantamweight Championship before going 1-3 with a NC in her next five bouts. All four of her losses have come by decision.
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