UFC 247 takes place Saturday, February 8 at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the full card, and here they are.
UFC 247 Opening Odds
Jon Jones -400
Dominick Reyes +300
Valentina Shevchenko -600
Katlyn Chookagian +400
Juan Adams -185
Justin Tafa +145
Dan Ige -135
Mirsad Bektic -105
Derrick Lewis -265
Ilir Latifi +185
Alex Morono -195
Kalinn Williams +155
Trevin Giles -195
Antonio Arroyo +155
Andrea Lee -305
Lauren Murphy +225
Miles Johns -245
Mario Bautista +175
Domingo Pilarte -120
Journey Newson -120
Andre Ewell -190
Jonathan Martinez +165
Austin Lingo -500
Youssef Zalal +375
And here are my initial thoughts on the UFC 247 Opening Odds:
- The card’s success will live and die on the back of the main event between Jones and Reyes. On paper, this is a pretty great matchup featuring arguably the greatest mixed martial artist of all time in Jones and a very dangerous prospect in Reyes. Jones is coming off of one of his most competitive fights against Thiago Santos last summer, but he still got the job done with a split decision win. Reyes, meanwhile, is a perfect 6-0 and has come off of a brutal KO over former middleweight champ Chris Weidman in his last fight. While Reyes is nothing but impressive, he hasn’t fought anyone as dangerous as Jones and this is a big step up in competition. While I give Reyes a better shot than most of Jones’ opponents to beat him, I still have to go with the champ to get his hand raised once again.
- The co-main event is also a title fight as the dominant women’s flyweight champ Shevchenko takes on challenger Chookagian. Shevchenko has been utterly dominant, going 4-0 since moving down to 125lbs, and she doesn’t look like she will lose any time soon, especially against someone like Chookagian who doesn’t finish fights. Credit to Chookagian for getting to the top of the weight class and earn a title shot, but she’s a decision point fighter, and that sort of gameplan won’t work against someone as dangerous for 25 minutes as Shevchenko.
- One of the better fights on the card sees featherweights Ige and Bektic go at it. Ige is on a four-fight win streak while Bektic has lost two of his last four fights. Bektic has never panned out into the fighter many thought he would be, and I think Ige has the upper hand here.
- One of the stranger matchups on the card sees Latifi move up to heavyweight to take on Lewis. I’m just confused why Latifi is getting a top-10 ranked heavyweight in his debut fight in the division. Even though he has flaws in his game, Lewis is still a huge heavyweight with massive power and proven in the division. Latifi is likely going to prove to be too small for this weight class, and I see Lewis putting the hurt on him in this fight.
- There are a number of prelims on this card featuring lesser-known fighters. While the main card fights feature larger gaps between the odds, the prelims have a lot of closer-matched fights, and there could be some sneaky betting value in some of these spots.
