UFC Fight Night 157 takes place Saturday, August 31 at Shenzhen Universade Sports Centre Arena in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the full card, and here they are.
UFC Fight Night 157 Opening Odds
Jessica Andrade -200
Weili Zhang +170
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos -285
Li Jingliang +205
Song Kenan -135
Derrick Krantz -105
Khadis Ibragimov -365
Da Un Jung +255
Wu Yanan -135
Mizuki Inoue -105
Movsar Evloev -270
Zhenhong Lu +190
Damir Ismagulov -405
Thiago Moises +285
Kai Kara-France -320
Mark de la Rosa +240
Lara Procopio -165
Karol Rosa +125
Andre Soukhamthath -245
Su Mudaerji +175
Anthony Hernandez -230
Jun Yong Park +170
Danaa Batgerel -175
Heili Alateng +135
And here are my initial thoughts on the UFC Fight Night 157 Opening Odds:
- The main event should be a fantastic fight for the UFC women’s strawweight belt between the champ Andrade (20-6) and the challenger Zhang (19-1). Andrade is on a roll with four straight wins including back-to-back knockouts over Rose Namajunas and Karolina Kowalkiewicz. As for Zhang, many were surprised she got a title shot before Tatiana Suarez or Michelle Waterson. But she is on a 19-fight win streak at the moment with a perfect 3-0 record in the UFC and she is arguably China’s top MMA star at the moment. Considering where this fight takes place, it makes sense Zhang is getting the title shot. Although Zhang could make this fight more competitive than some think, I still like Andrade’s experience, pressure and knockout power in this fight. I think the champ retains her belt in this one, possibly by another knockout.
- The co-main event should be a barnburner between dos Santos (21-5) and Jingliang (16-5). Again, this was a bit of a surprising matchup that the UFC booked as dos Santos is currently riding a seven fight win streak and and is 11-1 over his last 12 fights overall while breaking into the top-15. Jingliang is 6-1 over his last seven fights and is coming off of a knockout win but he hasn’t fought close to the level of competition dos Santos has. Again, it’s a situation where the UFC is putting a Chinese fighter in a high-profile position but I don’t like the matchup for Jingliang. Dos Santos is the better fighter and he should be able to get his hand raised in this fight.
- Next are the flyweights as Kara-France (19-7) takes on de la Rosa (11-2). Kara-France is on a seven-fight win streak and is a perfect 2-0 in the UFC. De la Rosa is just 2-2 in the UFC but should be better off now that he moved back down to 125lbs. Still, Kara-France has been having all sorts of success lately and I expect him to win this fight.
- On the prelims, one fight I really like is Song (14-5) against Krantz (24-11). Song is just 2-1 in the UFC but he is coming off of a Fight of the Night loss against Alex Morono and is always in exciting fights. Krantz, meanwhile, was finished by Vicente Luque in his UFC debut on short notice but had won three straight fights before that. I expect someone to be viciously knocked out in this fight, but I actually favor Krantz as a dog to get the win.
