UFC Vegas 98: Royval vs. Taira takes place on Saturday, October 12 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the event, and MMAOB staff writer Adam Martin looks at the opening odds below.
UFC Vegas 98 Odds
Tatsuro Taira -350
Brandon Royval +285
JunYong Park -185
Brad Tavares +160
Grant Dawson -700
Rafa Garcia +525
Julia Polastri -175
Cory McKenna +150
Daniel Rodriguez -250
Alex Morono +210
Abdul Razak Alhassan -140
Joshua Fremd +120
Chidi Njokuani -150
Jared Gooden +130
Ramazan Temurov -255
Carlos Vergara +215
Jonathan Pearce -150
Pat Sabatini +130
Themba Gorimbo -300
Niko Price +250
Junior Tafa -258
Sean Sharaf +210
Cody Haddon -110
Dan Argueta -110
Clayton Carpenter -350
Lucas Rocha +285
Here are my quick thoughts on the UFC Vegas 98 Opening Odds:
- In the main event, we have Tatsuro Taira facing his toughest test yet when he takes on Brandon Royval. Taira has won all six of his UFC fights and he appears to be a future UFC flyweight champion. He has looked impressive in all of his wins and it will be fun to see how far he can go in the sport. As for Royval, he is a former title challenger who picked up an upset win over Brandon Moreno in his last fight. You have to lean toward Taira here due to the fact he is unbeaten, but it is fair to say that Royval is by far the hardest fight of his career to date.
- In the co-main event, we have JunYong Park taking on Brad Tavares. It is worth noting this fight was supposed to happen a few months ago but it was scratched on short notice when doctors would not let Park continue following the weigh-ins. Just as he was before, though, Park is again the betting favorite in this spot. Park has been the more effective fighter for several years, so it should be no surprise that he is favored to win this bout. That being said, Tavares is a very solid veteran with good takedown defense, so it is an interesting matchup.
