UFC 96 Upset Picks - Remember the name Shane Carwin
by Nick Meyer
UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio offers the BetUS faithful another chance to score big with some potentially huge upset picks, but the one most people are going with probably isn’t going to happen.
While Keith Jardine has the kind of unorthodox striking and a resume of big wins to give bettors hope for a big upset over Jackson is more focused and in better shape than we’ve seen him in his entire career.
Looking one fight down the card, however, the Shane Carwin-Gabriel Gonzaga fight is one to keep an eye on for upset pick purposes.
Carwin is fairly unknown to the casual mixed martial arts fan for myriad reasons, including the fact that most of his fights are often over just a few minutes into the first round. He’s also usually not on the main card of UFC events, either.
Gonzaga meanwhile has been hailed as one of the top heavyweight contenders, and footage of his high kick knockout of high kick knockout artist Mirko Cro Cop has seemingly played on a permanent loop on Spike TV for the past year.
Carwin is not someone to mess with, however. His imposing size, power, and wrestling ability is perhaps on par with Brock Lesnar only Carwin is a much more well-rounded mixed martial artist at this point in his career. He has just as much ability as Lesnar, perhaps more, with only a fraction of the hype.
At 6-foot-3, 265 pounds, Carwin will have a good 20-pound advantage on Gonzaga by the time the first round is underway. Gonzaga has the jiu-jitsu advantage, but that’s about it, and Carwin is definitely a good bet considering his status as an underdog at +140 to Gonzaga’s -170.
Another potentially good upset pick is Mark Munoz over Matt Hamill. Hamill has made a living in the UFC so far by out-wrestling his opponents and out-toughing them, but Munoz is a more-accomplished former collegiate wrestler who will be able to at least draw even with Hamill on that aspect of the fight.
Hamill is currently a -170 to +140 favorite over Munoz which actually is good news for upset bettors because it shows that the odds makers think Munoz’s overall skills are comparable with his more accomplished opponent’s skills. Munoz’s knock is that he hasn’t been on the big stage like Hamill has, but Munoz has the skill to go toe-to-toe with Hamill.
If Munoz can win the striking war against Hamill and their wrestling advantages cancel each other out, he can definitely win the fight because Hamill’s striking is nothing special. Munoz should be able to pull this one out as long as he stays focused in the midst of his first UFC 96 fight.
