UFC on ESPN+ 27 takes place Saturday, February 29th at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the full card, and here they are.
UFC on ESPN+ 27 Opening Odds
Joseph Benavidez -165
Deiveson Figueiredo +135
Felicia Spencer -625
Zarah Fairn +450
Megan Anderson -400
Norma Dumont +300
Magomed Ankalaev -400
Ion Cutelaba +300
Grant Dawson -405
Darrick Minner +285
Gabriel Silva -175
Kyler Phillips +145
Marcin Tybura -115
Serghei Spivac -115
Mike Davis -150
Giga Chikadze +120
Brendan Allen -140
Tom Breese +110
Aalon Cruz -130
Spike Carlyle +100
Jordan Griffin -210
TJ Brown +170
Luis Pena -330
Steve Garcia +270
Ismail Naurdiev -150
Sean Brady +120
And here are my initial thoughts on the UFC on ESPN+ 27 Opening Odds:
- The main event is the best fight on this card as Benavidez and Figueiredo fight for five rounds or less with the vacant UFC flyweight title on the line. Benavidez has been one of the top-three flyweights in the world for the past decade behind Demetrious Johnson and Henry Cejduo and truly deserves this opportunity to fight for the vacant belt. Benavidez is riding a three-fight win streak and is 9-1 overall in his last 10 fights, so despite being 35 years old now, he’s still an elite fighter. As for Figueiredo, he’s on a two-fight win streak and is 6-1 overall in the UFC. At 32 he’s no spring chicken either, but this is his first chance to fight for the belt. With his level of experience and success in the UFC, you have to favor Benavidez a little bit here, but with his ability to finish fights you can’t count Figueiredo out from pulling off an upset.
- The co-main event is a big mismatch as Spencer should dominate Fairn. Despite Spencer losing to Cris Cyborg in her last fight, her stock arguably went up as she was able to go the full three rounds and not get finished. That was the first loss of Spencer’s career after she went 7-0 to start it. Her opponent Fairn has only fought once in the UFC and was dominated by Megan Anderson on the ground, and Anderson isn’t exactly known for her ground game. This should be an easy win for Spencer, who should win by submission.
- Speaking of Anderson, she’s also on this card as she takes on UFC newcomer Dumont. Anderson is just 2-2 in the UFC but is coming off a nice win over Fairn, for whatever it’s worth. Dumont is 4-0 in her pro MMA career but hasn’t fought anyone of note. Still, I would never recommend laying this kind of heavy juice on a fighter as inconsistent as Anderson, and considering the odds, I can’t blame anyone for taking a punt on Dumont.
- One of the best fights on the cards sees rising light heavyweights Ankalaev and Cutelaba go at it. Ankalaev was embarrassed by Paul Craig in his UFC debut when he tapped out with one second left in the fight, but since then has won three straight fights and has looked like a future title contender at 205lbs. Cutelaba, meanwhile, is just 4-3 in the UFC but is coming off of a nice KO win over Khalil Rountree. This should be a good fight, but I lean towards Ankalaev.
