UFC 87: Mark Coleman vs Brock Lesnar Preliminary Betting Odds and Analysis

Mark Coleman vs Brock Lesnar will headline UFC 87 in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 9th, 2008.

Here are the preliminary betting odds for the fight, plus our initial analysis:

Brock Lesnar (-285) vs Mark Coleman (+225)

Brock Lesnar will be looking to rebound from his disappointing UFC 81 debut against Frank Mir, when he tapped out in the first round.

Lesnar is a career 1-1-0 in mixed martial arts fighting. He scored a victory against Min Soo Kim at K-1 HERO'S DYNAMITE!! USA on June 2nd, 2007 after Kim tapped early in the first round. He then made his much-hyped UFC debut against Frank Mir at UFC 81 - Breaking Point, and fell victim to a Frank Mir kneebar.

Mark "The Hammer" Coleman brings a wealth of fighting experience into this match-up. He is a career 15-8-0, with eight of his victories coming via submission. He is currently 44 years of age and this will be his first fight in almost two years, since he tapped via armbar to Fedor Emelianenko at PRIDE 32.

Coleman has fought a tremendously impressive list of fighters. He has battled Fedor twice (losing both times), Mauricio Rua (won after Rua broke his arm), Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (lost via KO) and Antonio Rodridgo Nogueira (lost via armbar).

This will be a much better match-up for Lesnar than the Frank Mir fight was. Coleman relies on his wrestling ability to gain an advantage over his opponents - Lesnar was a former NCAA wrestling champion in his weight class, having won the NCAA Wrestling Championship in 2000. Mir was a tough opponent for Lesnar because he is a submission specialist - Coleman is a hand-picked opponent for Lesnar that will enable him to continue his ascent through the heavyweight division in the organization.

Lesnar is a big favorite in this match-up for these reasons:

1. He is much younger (30 years old vs 44 years old)

2. He is a better wrestler than Coleman.

3. He possesses much greater punching power than Coleman.

4. He will be fighting in his hometown.

5. Coleman will possess a tremendous amount of ring rust (at the time of the fight in August, Coleman will not have fought for 22 months. Not a recipe for success if you are in your 40's).

Lesnar is a big favorite in this fight, and for good reason. Coleman has fought a very impressive list of fighters in his list seven fights, but has not fared that well, losing four of them. Of the four losses, only one made it out of the first round.

Coleman is an "old-school" UFC fighter, having made his debut with the promotion at UFC 10 - The Tournament, but there are simply too many factors counting against him in this fight.