UFC on ESPN 18: Blaydes vs. Lewis takes place on Saturday, November 28 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the event, and MMAOB staff writer Adam Martin takes a look at the opening odds below.
UFC on ESPN 18 Odds
Curtis Blaydes -210
Derrick Lewis +180
Anthony Smith -161
Devin Clark +134
Ashlee Evans-Smith -139
Norma Dumont +115
Josh Parisian -164
Parker Porter +136
Martin Day -164
Anderson dos Santos +136
Gina Mazany -127
Rachael Ostovich +106
Su Mudaerji -175
Malcolm Gordon +150
Kai Kamaka III -200
Jonathan Pearce +170
Amir Albazi -156
Zhalgas Zhumagulov +129* fight rescheduled
Spike Carlyle -150
Bill Algeo +130
Miguel Baeza -190
Takashi Sato +165
Nate Maness -180
Luke Sanders +140
Here are my initial thoughts on the UFC on ESPN 18 Opening Odds:
- In the main event, top-five heavyweights Curtis Blaydes (14-2, 1 NC) and Derrick Lewis (24-7, 1 NC) clash. Blaydes is riding a four-fight win streak into this fight with a decision win over Alexander Volkov his last time out. Overall, Blaydes has won eight of his last nine bouts, with half of those fights ending in a finish. With his elite wrestling game, Blaydes is one of the toughest outs in the heavyweight division. Then again, the same can be said for Lewis. He’s riding a three-fight win streak into this fight and scored a knockout over Aleksei Oleinik in his last fight. Lewis has the KO power that can finish anyone in the world, but if he can’t stop the takedown then he won’t beat Blaydes. There’s a reason why Blaydes opened as the favorite.
- The co-main event sees Anthony Smith (33-16) take on Devin Clark (12-4) in a light heavyweight bout. Smith has had a rough 2020, to say the least. Back in May, he was completely beaten down by Glover Teixeira en route to a TKO loss. Then in August, he lost a lopsided decision to Aleksandar Rakic. Although Smith had a run as one of the top 205lbers in the world for a few years, he has really regressed back into a journeyman. As for Clark, he’s been in the UFC for a few years now and has suffered from consistency issues, but he’s looked sharper as of late with wins in his last two bouts. Although Smith is the bigger name, at this point it’s very hard to trust putting money down on him. Clark looks like a live dog to me.
- Another fight that I’m intrigued by is heavyweight prospect Josh Parisian (13-3) taking on Parker Porter (10-6). Parisian is making his debut following a knockout win on Contender Series and overall he is riding a six-fight win streak, with all of the wins coming by way of knockout. As for Porter, he made his UFC debut this past summer and he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Chris Daukaus. I wasn’t sure why the UFC even signed Porter in the first place as he never struck me as a UFC-level fighter, and it showed. This looks like a mismatch that is designed to get Parisian a big win in his UFC debut. Look for Parisian to get Porter to the floor and finish him with ground and pound for yet another knockout victory.
