And the award for least surprising odds of the century goes to......
Of course, Anderson Silva was expected to be a heavy favorite after his fight against Stephan Bonnar was announced as the main event of UFC 153. It just wasn't known how heavy. "The Spider" is, after all, widely regarded as the best pound for pound fighter on the planet.
Stephan Bonnar? He's currently ranked as the 21st Light Heavyweight in the world according to our own SBN/USA Today consensus. That's 10 spots lower than Forrest Griffin, a man who beat Bonnar twice and also a man who Anderson Silva last fought when he moved up to light heavyweight. Silva completely and utterly destroyed Griffin via first round knockout back at UFC 101.
Silva's betting odds opened with the current UFC Middleweight Champion as a -1350 favorite.
That's according to the fine folks at BestFightOdds.com, which compiles several different betting sites. While -1350 is the most common choice, Silva can be picked up for as low as -1210.
There were rumors that the 37 year old Brazilian could have opened as a significantly greater favorite than that. Any Maniacs going to pull the trigger on it?
Silva (32-4) has not lost legitimately in nearly eight years. He's gone a perfect 15-0 inside the UFC which includes a record 10 title defenses of his 185 pound strap. He recently disposed of bitter rival Chael Sonnen via second round TKO at UFC 148 in what was the biggest pay-per-view of the last two years
Enter "The American Psycho."
Bonnar (14-7) is extremely durable, having never been finished by submission or knockout in his career and is currently riding a three fight winning streak in the UFC Light Heavyweight division. Nearing the end of his career, he asked for a big fight with "someone with a large amount of Twitter followers" or he'd likely be retiring.
Ask and you shall receive.
If Bonnar somehow can defeat Silva, would it be the biggest upset in MMA history? How high would the odds have to get before you'd be willing to lay some scratch on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season one finalist?
To check out the latest UFC 153: "Silva vs. Bonnar" fight card and rumors click here.