PFL 2021: Week 1 takes place on Saturday, April 23 at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 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.
PFL 2021: Week 1 Opening Odds
Anthony Pettis -360
Clay Collard +260
Natan Schulte -455
Marcin Held +310
Lance Palmer -500
Bubba Jenkins +333
Movlid Khaybulaev -360
Lazar Stojadinovic +265
Akhmed Aliev -210
Mikhail Odintsov +170
Tyler Diamond -260
Sung Bin Jo +200
Brendan Loughnane -185
Sheymon Moraes +155
Chris Wade -260
Anthony Dizy +200
Joilton Lutterbach -260
Raush Manfio +200
Loik Radzhabov -335
Alex Martinez +240
Here are my quick thoughts on the PFL 2021: Week 1 Opening Odds:
- The PFL is back with the promotion’s third season. After taking all of 2020 off due to COVID-19, the PFL is back with a big way as the organization revamped its roster before this third season. The biggest signing the promotion made was arguably former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, who fights Clay Collard in his PFL debut. Pettis is coming off of a win over Alex Morono in the UFC and, while he might not be as good as he was a few years ago, he still has to be considered one of the favorites to win this PFL tournament. In the first round, Pettis takes on Collard, who also used to fight in the UFC. Collard has been doing professional boxing the last few years and has been pretty successful but the lure of a potential million-dollar grand prize was too much for him to pass up on. Still, this is a tough opening-round matchup against a fighter in Pettis who is so much more well-rounded.
- Another big name on this card is Lance Palmer, the two-time PFL featherweight champion who takes on Bubba Jenkins in this opening round fight. Palmer is riding an 11-fight win streak at the moment and he has dominated everyone he’s fought in the PFL so far. In this fight, he takes on a fellow wrestler in Jenkins, who rides a three-fight win streak into this fight. Though Jenkins has performed better as of late, he’s someone who we have seen fight for years in promotions such as Bellator and we know that he is beatable. Palmer should roll here.
- Another fighter to keep your eye on is Natan Schulte, the two-time PFL lightweight champion who takes on Marcin Held on this card. Schulte is 9-0-1 in the PFL and has run through everyone in his way. He is one of the most underrated lightweights in the sport right now and if he was in the UFC he would likely be banging on the door of the top-15. In this fight, he takes on Held, who also used to fight in the UFC. Held has won his last four fights in a row, which includes a notable decision win over Nasrat Haqparast in the UFC. Although Held went just 1-3 overall in the UFC, the fact he was able to beat someone like Haqparast shows he still has the skills to compete with great fighters. Schulte is the favorite here, but Held is a live dog.
