Bookmaker learning lesson about gender equality the hard way

In what could easily be one of the worst and most shortsighted bets in UFC history, bookmaker William Hill made an offer of 100/1 odds for anyone who could name the first Scot to become a UFC champion... I'll let that sink in for a minute... As I've often said, if you read my Hindsight articles (shameless self-plug) I'm not a gambling man by any stretch of the imagination, but even I would have found it impossible not to lay $100 on Joanne Calderwood, who finds herself only four fights removed from the Strawweight belt. If only I were still able to.

That's right one of the UK's largest bookmakers totally forgot about the upcoming women's strawweight division and as a result has had to do some somewhat underhanded scrambling. As you can see here, you can still place the bet, but it's now for "A Scottish fighter to win a Men's UFC Title in 2014." According to FullContactUK.com, William Hill, after posting the odds got a huge flood of bets from Scottish MMA fans looking to cash in. They eventually changed the bet to only include male fighters, but this left a lot of punters out in the cold. After initially saying that original bets would not be honoured, they've decided to reverse position again. Apparently it was one man, Jake Mcginlay who finally made them see sense (via FullContactUK.com)

"I was really disappointed. I placed the bet in good faith and they didn't mention anything about the gender of the fighter until several days later. It's not our fault they weren't aware of all the fighters and I'm happy they've finally decided to honour the original bet. I'd love to see Calderwood win the title and the winnings will make it even better. ".

Unfortunately, those of us late to the party can't get in on the action, unless of course you think you've got a hot tip on who the first Scotsman to win UFC gold will be. But, at least those with the quickness of thought to get their bets in early will still have them honored if indeed Calderwood becomes the first Scot of either gender to win a UFC title. So, what do you think, with Calderwood out of the running, does anyone have a good tip on a hot prospect? And does anyone have a more reasonable set of odds on Calderwood winning TUF 20?

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