Las Vegas books see odd betting pattern on South Korean UFC match

After Leo Kuntz and Tae Hyun Bang fought for three back-and-forth rounds in Seoul, South Korea, the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweights anxiously awaited the reading of the judge's scorecards.

The tension may have also been felt in the back rooms of several Las Vegas sports books.

Action that can only be described as suspicious was heavily placed on Kuntz to win the fight, moving him from a slight underdog to more than a 3-to-1 favorite to win the bout by the time betting closed in a fight buried deep on the preliminary card of an event that wasn't even televised.

But Kuntz lost a split decision, making the house a substantial profit on the fight.

William Hill sports books took 24 percent of the wagers from Saturday's 10-fight UFC card on the lightweight bout between Kuntz and Bang and those tickets accounted for 62 percent of the action on the card. Of the straight bets placed on the bout at William Hill books, 79 percent of the money was on Kuntz. Similar action was reported in the offshore betting market.

Another property in town took as much action or more on this obscure bout as it would on a typical NFL game. A source told the Review-Journal a nearly six-figure bet was placed on Kuntz at that book. The source could not be identified because it was unauthorized to speak on the matter.

Yet if bettors were playing on inside information, it proved misleading.

Kuntz nearly secured a win with a rear-naked choke in the second round that Bang didn't appear to defend very vigorously, but he eventually escaped and did enough in the bout to earn the favor of two of the three judges.

According to the odds tracking tool at BestFightOdds.com, the number swung from Kuntz plus-140 to as high as minus-400.

TORRES GETS NEW OPPONENT — UFC women's strawweight contender Tecia Torres will fight Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger at UFC 194 on Dec. 12 at MGM Grand.

Jones-Lybarger was brought in by the organization to replace Michelle Waterson, who was forced to pull out of a scheduled matchup with Torres because of injury.

The pay-per-view card is headlined by a pair of title fights as featherweight champion Jose Aldo will fight interim champ Conor McGregor in a unification bout and Chris Weidman will defend the middleweight belt against Luke Rockhold.

TRUJILLO ADDED TO UFC 195 — UFC lightweight Abel Trujillo will look to snap a two-fight losing streak when he fights Tony Sims on the UFC 195 card at MGM Grand on Jan. 2.

Trujillo suffered a controversial loss to Gleison Tibau on Nov. 7 when the referee ruled Trujillo had gone unconscious during a choke just 1:45 into the fight despite Trujillo appearing to be alert and defending the maneuver.

Before the losing streak, Trujillo had won two consecutive fights and was on the verge of the top 10. UFC 195 is headlined by a welterweight title fight between Carlos Condit and champion Robbie Lawler.

BELLATOR CARD — Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson will make his Bellator debut in the main event of Saturday's card in San Jose, Calif.

The UFC veteran will fight Pablo Villaseca in the headliner of a Spike TV event. Also Daniel Weichel will fight Georgi Karakhanyan in a featherweight bout on a card that will take place on the campus of San Jose State.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj