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(Some glib video analysis of your UFC 106 betting options alongside Cagewriter's Steve Cofield and RawVegas.tv's Dave Farra.)

My father has a saying about betting on MMA fights: ‘I’m not loaning you any money, and if you so much as touch that spare change jar I’ll beat you with a shovel while you're sleeping.’  I have no idea how that was supposed to help guide me, or for that matter, any of you, when it comes to deciding who to bet on at UFC 106 this Saturday night, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that he meant it when he said it.

The odds we’ll be using today come from BestFightOdds.com.

Forrest Griffin (-135) vs. Tito Ortiz (+130)
Josh Koscheck (+109) vs. Anthony Johnson (-115)
Amir Sadollah (-185) vs. Phil Baroni (+186)
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (-143) vs. Luis Cane (+150)
Karo Parisyan (-105) vs. Dustin Hazelett (-105)
Marcus Davis (-205) vs. Ben Saunders (+190)
Jake Rosholt (-169) vs. Kendall Grove (+165)
Paulo Thiago (-260) vs. Jacob Volkmann (+250)
Brock Larson (-465) vs. Brian Foster (+400)
Caol Uno (-285) vs. Fabricio Camoes (+235)
George Sotiropoulos (-455) vs. Jason Dent (+355)

The breakdown…

(Genghis Con says, get hyped for Brown vs. Aldo.  That's an order, soldier.)

With so much going on this week, you might be forgiven for completely forgetting about Wednesday night’s WEC event.  At least, you might be forgiven by most people.  Myself, I’m the type to hold a grudge.  I’m also the type to act on that grudge by stabbing you with a broken bottle of Mad Dog while screaming incoherently.  But that’s me.  I’m old fashioned.  Let’s bet on some fights, shall we?

Betting odds come to us courtesy of BestFightOdds.com.

Mike Brown (-113) vs. Jose Aldo (+102)
Manny Gamburyan (+105) vs. Leonard Garcia (-105)
Rob McCullough (-145) vs. Karen Darabedyan (+145)
Danny Castillo (-135) vs. Shane Roller (+115)
Kamal Shalorus (-160) vs. Will Kerr (+145)
Diego Nunes (-160) vs. LC Davis (+145)
Cub Swanson (-270) vs. John Franchi (+260)
Antonio Banuelos (-200) vs. Kenji Osawa (+190)
Ricardo Lamas (-225) vs. James Krause (+215)
Seth Dikun (+150) vs. Frank Gomez (-155)

The breakdown…

('Seriously Brandon, quit it. I'm not going to tell you again.' Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

The data is in for UFC 105, and now the Potato Index’s arbitrary numerical rankings system is here to tell you who’s up and who’s down after this weekend’s UK action.

Randy Couture +25
It goes down as another win on his permanent record, but it just as easily could have gone the other way.  He’s still great when it comes to executing a game plan, and any man who can bounce back from those kicks to the body is a tough S.O.B., but a methodical, debatable win over a mid-level 205’er doesn’t herald the dawning of a new age for Randy the light heavyweight.

Brandon Vera -21
As close as this fight was, Vera can’t complain.  He spent most of the bout with his back on the fence, and when he finally put Couture in trouble he let him off the hook rather than trying to finish him off.  Sorry, Truth.  Looks like the middle of the pack is where you’re going to stay.

(Sure, the relationship looks intense now, but in five years Swick will be taking him for granted and Hardy won't even bother to do his hair anymore. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

To get ourselves pumped for tomorrow’s UFC 105 event in Manchester, England, we’ve been really working on our dry wit and our stiff upper lips.  Results so far have been, shall we say, mixed, so we’re going to take a break from all that dignified crap and go back to insulting one another while making broad claims that we don’t even attempt to back up.  You know, real American stuff.  This is Ben vs. Ben. 

Randy Couture is going down in weight (again) to give yet another boost to his seemingly endless career.  What do you make of his chances to beat Brandon Vera on Saturday, and what happens next for "The Natural"?

BF: I have to admit that despite all the amazing things we’ve seen Randy do, some part of me always thinks that his next fight will be when Father Time finally catches up with the ageless wonder and stomps him into an unrecognizable mass and blood and pulp before looking down at him and saying, ‘That’s for making me chase you all these years.’  I can’t shake the feeling that this will happen some day, but then again, I don’t think it will necessarily be this Saturday, nor do I think it will necessarily happen against Brandon Vera.

(Couture was under the impression that everyone would be wearing scarves in England, but now he just feels like a jerk. Thanks for nothing, Tim Gunn. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

First, let’s set aside a couple ugly rumors regarding betting on UK UFC cards.  There is no truth to the suggestion that your money, once you inevitably lose it by betting big on Shannon Gugerty, will go to Buckingham Palace’s “moat fund.”  Even if the event is in England, your squandered cash still goes to the same off-shore betting establishments as usual.  And no, those off-shore bookies aren’t going to then use the money to hire models to do bikini jiu-jitsu.  That’s old hat to them by now.  At this point the only way they can still feel alive is by renting that cabin in Canada where all the online bookmakers gather each year to hunt the ultimate prey: man!

Now that that’s out of the way, here are the most favorable UFC 105 odds on the internet, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Randy Couture (-105) vs. Brandon Vera (-103)
Mike Swick (-210) vs. Dan Hardy (+199)
Michael Bisping (+112) vs. Denis Kang (-117)
James Wilks (+138) vs. Matt Brown (-151)
Ross Pearson (+180) vs. Aaron Riley (-200)
Paul Taylor (+210) vs. John Hathaway (-240)
Terry Etim (-325) vs. Shannon Gugerty (+300)
Nick Osipczak (+265) vs. Matt Riddle (-290)
Paul Kelly (-320) vs. Dennis Siver (+300)
Alexander Gustafsson (+135) vs. Jared Hamman (-139)
Andre Winner (-325) vs. Roli Delgado (+325)

The breakdown…