Bigfoot is back but Velasquez remains the favourite at UFC 160

Ahead of UFC 160, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva will surely still have fresh memories from the last time he fought Cain Velasquez.

Silva (18-4-0) landed just three strikes during their three and a half minute bout in UFC 146, while Velasquez (11-1-0) cut him badly with an elbow, causing blood to fall all over the canvas.

Silva has bounced back from that somewhat humiliating defeat by winning his last two fights, stopping Travis Browne and knocking out Alistair Overeem respectively, to find himself heading for a rematch in Vegas with Velasquez.

The manner of their first fight sees Mexican-American Velasquez a heavy favourite at 2/13, with Silva out at 9/2.

That non-title fight on May 26th last year was the Brazilian’s first UFC fight, and he’s said the underdog tag can be worked to his advantage.

“I like when people underestimate me, it’s nice.

“I get to go out there and prove them wrong. There are no superheroes in this sport, nobody’s invincible and I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work over the last nine weeks.”

Silva’s apparent relaxed demeanour might not do much to help him against one of the fastest fighters in the business, but he’s unlikely to put up as weak a fight as last year.

Also on the card is Mark Hunt against Junior Dos Santos, with the Brazilian knowing that victory would see him in a prime position to face the winner of Velasquez v Silva in UFC 161.

Hunt (9-7-0) has been brought in to replace Overeem who is out with an injury, and is 3/1 to beat Dos Santos (15-2-0), favourite at 2/9.

Hunt’s record doesn’t look great on paper, but four successive wins prior to this fight suggest Dos Santos will need to up his game.

A chance at a re-match with Velasquez could be the ideal spur for the Brazilian however, who suffered a five-round loss to the 30-year-old for the heavyweight title at UFC 155 in December.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing