UFC 240 takes place Saturday, July 27 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the full card, and here they are.
UFC 240 Opening Odds
Max Holloway -350
Frankie Edgar +250
Cris Cyborg -425
Felicia Spencer +305
Geoff Neal -185
Niko Price +145
Arman Tsarukyan -305
Olivier Aubin-Mercier +225
Krzysztof Jotko -230
Marc-Andre Barriault +170
Kyle Stewart -155
Erik Koch +115
Gillian Robertson -145
Sarah Frota +105
Alexandre Pantoja -135
Deiveson Figueiredo -105
Gavin Tucker -215
Seungwoo Choi +165
Viviane Araujo -245
Alexis Davis +175
Tanner Boser -125
Giacomo Lemos -115
Hakeem Dawodu -350
Yoshinori Horie +250
And here are my initial thoughts on the UFC 240 Opening Odds:
- The main event is a re-booking between the featherweight champ Holloway and the challenger Edgar. If you remember, this fight was actually supposed to take place last spring, but Holloway got hurt. Edgar ended up fighting Brian Ortega and got knocked out. Well, now Edgar gets his title shot, but he’s also coming off of a 15-month layoff and he’s 37-years old now. Edgar is a future Hall of Famer, but Holloway is 27-years old and in his prime right now. The decision loss to Dustin Poirier in his last fight aside at lightweight, Holloway is still the best in the world at featherweight. Holloway is the younger, taller, and better striker in this fight. Edgar should be tough and might make it the distance, but I see Holloway getting his hand raised and defending his belt.
- The Cyborg vs. Spencer fight is a rare women’s featherweight bout. Cyborg is coming off of her first loss since 2005 when she was knocked out by Amanda Nunes last year, while Spencer is coming off of a beautiful submission win over Megan Anderson in her UFC debut. Having said that, Spencer is getting a huge step up here while for Cyborg it’s a step down. Considering how dominant Cyborg was prior to the Nunes fight, she’s the clear favorite in this fight, and if I had to guess, she goes back to her knockout-winning ways early on in this fight.
- The Neal vs. Price bout is my prick for “Fight of the Night.” Both guys are heavy-hitting welterweights who are always looking to take their opponents’ heads off. Neal is a perfect 3-0 so far in the UFC while Price has won three of his last four fights by stoppage. However, we have seen Price get his chin clipped in the UFC, and Neal hits really hard. Someone is going to get knocked out in spectacular fashion in this fight, and I favor Neal to be the winner.
- On the prelims, a women’s flyweight bout between Davis and Araujo is of interest. Davis is coming off of two straight losses by decision to Jennifer Maia and Katlyn Chookagian, while Araujo picked up a ridiculous knockout win over Talita Bernardo in her UFC debut. Araujo clearly has all the momentum heading into this fight, but I can’t help but think Davis is being overlooked here. She has all kinds of experience and is one of the few women to defeat Amanda Nunes, which she did so by knockout back in Strikeforce. Araujo is favored because she had a terrific UFC debut, but I wouldn’t sleep on Davis, and at this price I would take a shot on her.
- The other preliminary fight I wanted to highlight is a welterweight bout between Koch and Stewart. Koch was once one of the top featherweight prospects in the world, but he’s now 30 and hasn’t won a fight since 2016. He’s also moving up to 170lbs for the first time in his career. Stewart, meanwhile, lost to Chance Rencountre in his UFC debut. As bad as Stewart looked in that spot, this could be the last opportunity to fade Koch because another loss would likely mark the end of his UFC career, and that’s exactly what I predict happens here.
