UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 3 takes place on Saturday, July 10 at T-Mobile Arena 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 264 Odds
Conor McGregor -140
Dustin Poirier +120
Gilbert Burns -155
Stephen Thompson +135
Tai Tuivasa -170
Greg Hardy +145
Irene Aldana -125
Yana Kunitskaya +105
Sean O’Malley -500
Kris Moutinho +375
Ilia Topuira -220
Ryan Hall +185
Max Griffin -175
Carlos Condit +150
Michel Pereira -175
Niko Price +150
Jennifer Maia -175
Jessica Eye +150
Trevin Giles -130
Dricus Du Plessis -110
Brad Tavares -190
Omari Akhmedov +165
Zhalgas Zhumagulov -400
Jerome Rivera +300
Alen Amedovski -175
Hu Yaozong +150
Here are my quick thoughts on the UFC 264 Opening Odds:
- The main event of UFC 264 features a trilogy fight between bitter rivals Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. The pair are 1-1 all-time, splitting a pair of knockouts for and against, and the winner will get bragging rights for eternity. In their first fight at UFC 178, McGregor knocked out Poirier in a featherweight bout. Most recently, we saw both men meet in a rematch at UFC 257 earlier this year, with Poirier getting revenge with a TKO win in a lightweight contest. We now see them go at it for a third and likely final time with a title shot on the line, not to mention big purses for both. Despite Poirier winning the last fight, the oddsmakers opened up McGregor as the betting favorite. Although McGregor figures to gain respect, right now the early action has come in on Poirier and he is now slightly favored to win the fight. It’s definitely a tough fight to call given how vastly different the first two fights were, but Poirier is getting more respect.
- The co-main event is a welterweight bout between Gilbert Burns and Stephen Thompson. Burns is coming off of a TKO loss to the champ Kamaru Usman in his last outing, while Thompson is coming off of back-to-back wins over Vicente Luque and Geoff Neal. Despite their recent results, the oddsmakers opened up Burns as a slight favorite here. Since the opener, the early money has come in on Thompson and he is now a comfortable favorite.
- Another intriguing matchup is a heavyweight bout between Tai Tuivasa and Greg Hardy. Tuivasa is coming off of a great knockout win over Harry Hunsucker in his last outing, while Hardy was most recently seen losing via TKO to Marcin Tybura. This should be a slugfest for as long as it lasts, as both men like to stand and trade bombs on the feet in most of their fights, and neither man has much in the way of grappling. Given the amount of power both men have in their fists, this fight could really come down to who lands the first punch.
- Overall this is a fantastic card from top to bottom with a number of high-profile fights featuring some of the best fighters in the sport. There will be lots of line movement this week so keep your eyes tuned to the way the lines move.
