UFC Fight Night 145 takes place Saturday, February 23 at The O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the bettings odds for the full card, and here they are.
UFC Fight Night 145 Opening Odds
Thiago Santos -140
Jan Blachowicz +100
Stefan Struve -120
Marcos Rogerio de Lima -120
Michal Oleksiejczuk -210
Gian Villante +160
Liz Carmouche -185
Lucie Pudilova +145
Petr Yan -350
John Dodson +250
Magomed Ankalaev -245
Klidson Abreu +175
Veronica Macedo -140
Gillian Robertson +100
Carlo Pedersoli Jr. -160
Dwight Grant +120
Marco Polo Reyes -135
Damir Hadzovic -105
Michel Prazeres -400
Ismail Naurdiev +280
Daniel Teymur -160
Chris Fishgold +120
Rustam Khabilov -145
Carlos Diego Ferreira +105
Damir Ismagulov -270
Joel Alvarez +190
And here are my initial thoughts on the UFC Fight Night 145 Opening Odds:
- The main event is an excellent fight between two of the best strikers in the light heavyweight division as Blachowicz takes on Santos. It’s a tough fight to call and the close opening line is fair. Blachowicz is the more technical striker and the superior grappler, but Santos is extremely powerful and has looked great at light heavyweight. To be honest, my slight lean is towards Blachowicz, just because I think he’s better suited to go a full five rounds, but it’s a close fight an it’s hard to be confident in either guy.
- The co-main event between De Lima and Struve is a Pick ’em, and at the opening odds I’d say there’s a bit of value on De Lima here. Struve has a chin that can be tested and De Lima has huge power. Of course, his cardio is also terrible, so this is again not a confident pick by any means, but I’d lean towards De Lima by knockout. I just think you have to fade Struve at any opportunity you can get to do so.
- I was surprised to see Yan open as high as he is, but he should be able to get by Dodson. I just don’t think he’s worth betting on at those crazy odds, even in a parlay, as Dodson is by far the best fighter he’s ever fought in his career. At the opening line the value is on Dodson just because we know how competitive his fights usually are, but I still would lean towards Yan winning a decision.
- Lower down the card, it’s hard not to like Prazeres to get his hand raised over Naurdiev. It’s unfortunate Prazeres keeps getting non-ranked opponents as he’s on a long win streak and is very deserving of fighting someone ranked in the top-15 at this point. I fully expect him to win this fight, and maybe he’ll get a ranked opponent next time. He absolutely deserve it as this point.
- For an underdog pick, I’m thinking there may be some value on Ferreira to beat Khabilov. As effective as Khabilov is with his wrestling, he’s not much of a finisher in the slightest, and Ferreira is able to both win decisions and get the finish. I’d have to give Ferreira a slight edge here due to his ability to finish fights and I like him at dog money.
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