UFC 244 takes place Saturday, November 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the full card, and here they are.
UFC 244 Opening Odds
Jorge Masvidal -110
Nate Diaz -110
Kelvin Gastelum -155
Darren Till +115
Stephen Thompson -135
Vicente Luque -105
Gregor Gillespie -130
Kevin Lee -110
Derrick Lewis -170
Blagoy Ivanov +130
Johnny Walker -195
Corey Anderson +155
Jairzinho Rozenstruik -170
Andrei Arlovski +130
Shane Burgos -185
Makwan Amirkhani +145
Edmen Shahbazyan -245
Brad Tavares +175
Hakeem Dawodu -165
Julio Arce +125
Katlyn Chookagian -140
Jennifer Maia +100
Chance Rencountre -120
Lyman Good -120
And here are my initial thoughts on the UFC 244 Opening Odds:
- The main event is an incredible fight between Masvidal and Diaz for the UFC BMF belt. I’ll have a full breakdown for this fight later in the week. For now, I’d say the opening line of a Pick ’em was fairly accurate because this is a very hard fight to call. Masvidal had looked great in 2019 with two brutal knockouts over Darren Till and Ben Askren, but you can’t ignore all the close fights he’s lost over the course of his career. As for Diaz, he returned from a three-year layoff to pick up a huge win over Anthony Pettis. The odds have shifted and Masvidal is now the clear favorite, but I think the oddsmakers were bang on when they opened this as a Pick ’em because this is a very difficult fight to call based on the style matchup.
- The co-main event between Till and Gastelum is also tough to call. What makes this really interesting is that Till is moving up to middleweight, and we have no idea how he’ll look at his new weight class. Till really struggled at the end of his welterweight run, but he’s a very talented youngster who still has plenty of potential in the sport. As for Gastelum, he is coming off a tough loss to new middleweight champ Israel Adesanya, but he’s clearly one of the best in the world at 185lbs and is a very tough test for Till in his middleweight debut. Gastelum deserves the respect of being favored here, but you can’t count Till out of this fight.
- Also on the main card is a very interesting lightweight bout between Gillespie and Lee. Gillespie has earned the opportunity to fight a ranked opponent after opening up his UFC career at 6-0, while Lee is moving back down in weight after struggling at welterweight. Lee has more experience in the UFC, but Gillespie has been more impressive, and the odds should probably be a bit higher in his favor.
- Another fight I’m looking forward to is a light heavyweight bout between Walker and Anderson. Walker has looked amazing with three first-round knockouts so far in the UFC, but his wrestling has never been tested and Anderson is one of the better wrestlers at 205lbs. Walker has earned the status of favorite but Anderson shouldn’t be completely counted out.
- Overall this is an amazing card on paper full of intriguing matchups, many of which feature closely-lined fights. It’s a great card for bettors.
