At UFC 235 this past weekend in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, veteran welterweight fighter Robbie Lawler nearly pounded former Olympic wrestler and 2/1 favorite Ben Askren into a first-round TKO success. However Askren, making his first UFC appearance, managed to endure Lawler’s early onslaught of head and body shots, and about two minutes later, at 3:20 in the initial round, finished the comeback, ending it with a bulldog choke.
Respected referee Herb Dean watched Lawler’s arm limp while he attempted to extricate himself from the choke, causing Dean to stop the struggle in what goes down as a submission win for Askren. While contentious and unfortunate for Lawler (and his backers), it was clear, and the popular Lawler immediately turned from aggrieved to praising Dean and expressing his own understanding (transcript here.)
The NFL is the king of U.S sports betting, but combined martial arts offers something different, in some ways better and more exciting, and really controversial occasionally, same as each sport. Certain occasions, even for a somewhat niche game now in its first year of a distribution deal on ESPN platforms, can generate the gambling handle seen in a good NFL game.
“Everyone understands a struggle”
Exposure to more mainstream audiences via ESPN and FOX Sports 1, through a previous deal, proceeds to increase MMA’s profile. To get to this this point, UFC and other promotions such as Bellator have embraced and understood the engagement value of sports betting.
“The UFC was on the forefront of sports wagering content,” Jason Simbal, vice president of risk management for CG Technology, told Sports Handle. “They embraced it by including chances on the sites on telecasts. Along with the announcers will mention the betting favorites throughout the conflicts. They also have their personal produced gaming show which airs before every pay-per-view on UFC Fight Pass, which assists.”
The PGA Tour, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and National Hockey League likewise have”evolved” since the Supreme Court struck down the 1992 national ban on full-fledged sports wagering out Nevada. Every one of the commissioners of these leagues now tout the virtues of greater involvement anyhow sports wagering, fabricate new monetization opportunities, and delight in the ones that have already come.
But while every one of those leagues, especially MLB, seek to build new sports betting bridges using proprietary Statcast figures, for instance, there’s no learning curve to start betting on combined martial arts.
“I think it comes down to it being a struggle. And what I mean by that is that when you are managing a lot of other sports, you are dealing with lots of factors, the principles of football, baseball, basketball,” veteran MMA writer-reporter Damon Martin told Sports Manage. “And there’s a guttural instinct in everybody when it comes down to it.

Read more: thenewright.news