UFC Vegas 17: Thompson vs. Neal takes place on Saturday, December 19 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 Vegas 17 Odds
Stephen Thompson -115
Geoff Neal -105
Jose Aldo -125
Marlon Vera +105
Michel Pereira -175
Khaos Williams +150
Marlon Moraes -175
Rob Font +150
Marcin Tybura -135
Greg Hardy +115
Taila Santos -125
Gillian Robertson +105
Anthony Pettis -330
Alex Morono +270
Belal Muhammad -250 * This fight has been scratched
Dhiego Lima +210
Sijara Eubanks -175
Pannie Kianzad +150
Karl Roberson -170
Dalcha Lungiambula +145
Antonio Arroyo -175
Deron Winn +150
Drako Rodriguez -185
Aiemann Zahabi +160
Tafon Nchukwi -256
Jamie Pickett +205
Jimmy Flick -155
Cody Durden +135
Rick Glenn -240
Carlton Minus +205
Here are my initial thoughts on the UFC Vegas 17 Opening Odds:
- The main event of UFC Vegas 17 was originally set to be Leon Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev, but that fight has been pushed back to January 20 on Fight Island. The new main event is a five-round welterweight bout between top contenders Stephen Thompson (15-4-1) and Geoff Neal (13-2). I love this fight. Thompson has been a top contender at 170lbs for years and in his last fight, he had a vintage performance as he took home a unanimous decision over Vicente Luque. That fight was a year ago and Thompson is now 37, so there are some knocks against him heading into this bout, but he’s still one of the most skilled strikers in the division. As for Neal, he is a perfect 5-0 in the UFC and is looking to break into the top-10 here with a win over Thompson. Neal is a stud but he had health issues this year that have kept him out of the Octagon until now. Still, with his KO power, Neal is absolutely live in this fight. This is a really competitive fight and the oddsmakers essentially opened it as Pick ’em.
- The co-main event is also a really fun fight between Jose Aldo (28-7) and Marlon Vera (18-6-1). Aldo is coming off of a devastating TKO loss to champion Petr Yan in his last fight and he lost a split decision to Marlon Moraes before that, so overall he’s 0-2 in the UFC bantamweight division. Yet, he’s still a legend of the sport and nearly every time in the past that Aldo has been left for dead, he pulls a rabbit out of his hat. Against Vera, however, Aldo has an uphill climb. Vera has won six of his last seven fights overall and he picked up a TKO win over Sean O’Malley in his last outing. You have to love Aldo, but Vera is fighting at a higher clip right now.
- Another great matchup, one with surprising odds, sees Michel Pereira (24-11) against Khaos Williams (11-1). I say surprising odds because I was genuinely shocked Pereira opened up as the favorite here after Williams KOed Alex Morono and Abdul Razak Alhassan in his fight two UFC fights. Pereira is great too, and he’s coming off of a submission win over Zelim Imadaev, but this is still a guy who has a questionable fight IQ. Give me Williams in this spot as the dog.
