This year’s International Fight Week will feature a pair of events on the weekend of July 7th and 8th, culminating with UFC 213 on the Saturday night. The Pay-Per-View event features a tremendous main card headlined by two title fights (one of them an interim title, of course) in the middleweight and women’s bantamweight divisions.
Just like last year around the same time, the women will be headlining one of the UFC’s biggest cards of the year, and Amanda Nunes hopes for the same sort of result she got last July at UFC 200 when she captured the women’s bantamweight title.
In order to do so, she’ll have to overcome the most well-rounded title challenger she’s faced, and one of just two women who has escaped the opening round against her, Valentina Shevchenko.
Nunes and Shevchenko previously fought at UFC 196, where Nunes picked up a decision victory. She was able to get Shevchenko to the ground in each of the first two rounds and do significant work from top position. However, Nunes tired towards the end of the fight and Shevchenko took over, leading many to believe that a five-round fight would have had a different outcome.
Now the two face each other in a bout scheduled for five rounds, and it will be interesting to see if Nunes can have enough success on the feet against Shevchenko to allow the fight to remain standing. If not, the champion may once again have to resort to her ground game, and the threat she could gas again.
It seems that bettors are expecting Shevchenko to benefit from the longer match, as despite opening a +120 underdog (bet $100 to win $120), she has moved to a -125 favorite (bet $125 to win $100), with the comeback on Nunes at +105.
The betting odds are equally tight for the co-main event, which will crown an interim champion in the middleweight division. After storming through the UFC to a tune of an 8-0 record (with six TKOs), ageless wonder and 2000 Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero finally gets his shot at UFC gold. He had expected to face Michael Bisping in this spot, but an ongoing potential bout between Bisping and Georges St-Pierre has kept the champion’s focus elsewhere.
Instead, Romero will take on Robert Whittaker, owner of a 6-0 record since moving up to the middleweight division. The 26-year-old has really found his stride of late, stopping Jacare Souza and Derek Brunson with strikes in his last two outings. Those impressive performances have pushed him to a slight -125 favorite against Romero, who is +105.
The other bout which previously had odds for UFC 213 was the trilogy bout between Alistair Overeem (-130) and Fabricio Werdum (+110), garnering cautious optimism given their last outing. A welterweight clash between Robbie Lawler (-150) and Donald Cerrone (+130) was also originally scheduled for the main card but has been postponed and is expected to now take place at UFC 214.
Rounding out the main card is Anthony Pettis’ return to lightweight, as he takes on the always game Jim Miller. The preliminary card features the likes of Travis Browne and Curtis Blaydes plus Jordan Mein vs. Belal Muhammad, Rob Font vs. Douglas Andrade, and the usually violent Thiago Santos taking on Gerald Meerschaert.
MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting lines for the remaining seven fights on UFC 213 today at Several Bookmakers. Take a look…
UFC 213
JULY 8, 2017
T-Mobile Arena | Las Vegas, Nevada
PPV Main Card – (10PM ET/7PM PT):
Women’s Bantamweight Title:
Valentina Shevchenko +120
Amanda Nunes -150
Over 2.5 -160
Under 2.5 +120
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Interim Middleweight Title:
Robert Whittaker +100
Yoel Romero -130
Over 1.5 -170
Under 1.5 +130
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Daniel Omielanczuk +285
Curtis Blaydes -405
Over 1.5 -170
Under 1.5 +130
–
Fabricio Werdum +110
Alistair Overeem -150
Over 1.5 -160
Under 1.5 +120
–
Jim Miller +185
Anthony Pettis -265
Over 2.5 -150
Under 2.5 +110
–
FS1 Prelims – (8PM ET/5PM PT):
Aleksei Oleinik +140
Travis Browne -180
Over 1.5 +155
Under 1.5 -195
–
Brian Camozzi +170
Chad Laprise -230
Over 2.5 -135
Under 2.5 -105
–
Thiago “Marreta” Santos +150
Gerald Meerschaert -190
Over 1.5 +145
Under 1.5 -185
–
Belal Muhammad +100
Jordan Mein -140
Over 1.5 -120
Under 1.5 -120
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UFC FIGHT PASS Prelims – (6:30 ET/3:30PM PT):
Douglas Silva de Andrade +165
Rob Font -215
Over 2.5 -140
Under 2.5 +100
–
Terrion Ware +190
Cody Stamann -270
Over 2.5 -210
Under 2.5 +160
–
James Bochnovic +235
Trevin Giles -315
Over 1.5 -135
Under 1.5 -105
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Click below to bet on the fights!
