This Saturday August 9th, in Los Angeles, California the Metamoris 4 grappling and submission event takes place. Most of the attention has been going to whether banned UFC fighter Chael Sonnen will even be able to compete in his scheduled match against grappling stud Andre Galvao due to the attempt to block his participation by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but the card is packed with some of the highest level talent in the grappling world today.
Now, BETDSI.COM is the only book out on the internet taking action on grappling. Even if Sonnen does compete, he is a massive (+1559) underdog with Galvao favored at (-1477). The best Sonnen can hope for is a draw, really as he has no chance of really submitting Galvao, but the card has several near pick ’em fights as well.
One of those near pick ’em fights is between American grappling ace Keenan Cornelius and veteran Brazilian grappler Vinny Magalhaes. Cornelius pays (+138) and Vinny Magalhaes is at (+116), with a draw coming in at (-199).
The second of the tight lines features two veteran grapplers who were at their best as top competitors 10 to 15 years ago as Rodrigo ‘Comprido’ Medeiros (+161) meets Saulo Ribeiro (+161). The draw sits at (-273).
It is interesting, and perhaps a condemnation of the Metamoris format, but the lines for both of the clsoe matches actually reflect that a draw is the most likely outcome. In fact, betting the draws across the board may be the best way for a bettor to actually pull some money out of these lines.
Another match on the card featuring well known names sees Dean Lister (-742) heavily favored over current UFC Heavyweight and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett (+710). Barnett is currently under a UFC contract, so his participation is with the company’s approval. Now, Barnett is a very big man, and his knowledge of submission is good enough to pull off the upset if he is able to use his strength from a good position. At the very least, the (+198) line on a draw means that it pays back 2 to 1. These are twenty minute matches with no points scored, so if not submission occurs within the twenty mnutes, the match is a draw. that makes a draw on the Barnett-Lister match a good bet.
