Livest Dog at UFC 219: Carla Esparza

Name: Carla Esparza

Opponent: Cynthia Calvillo

Odds: +245 (bet $100 to win $245)

After getting pieced up by Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a title bout, a lot of people wrote Carla Esparza off. However, people forget just how dominant of a wrestler she is. The loss to Joanna (former) Champion was an eye opener that she needs to be able to take someone down and mix it up in the grappling department to really win a fight, but is that not exactly what’s going to happen here?

I’m not saying that Cynthia Calvillo isn’t a talented grappler. The writing is clear on that one; she’s damn good. On the other hand, who is the best grappler Calvillo has faced? Maybe Amanda Cooper? I suppose Aspen Ladd if you can count her amateur career. So in my opinion, her resume is just too thin on heavy grapplers to warrant being a near 3-to-1 favorite. Definitely worth a play here.