Dana White’s Contender Series 53 takes place on Tuesday, September 6 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.
Opening Odds For Dana White’s Contender Series 53
Vitor Petrino -160
Rodolfo Bellato +140
Gabriel Bonfim -185
Trey Waters +160
Jimmy Lawson -300
Karl Williams +240
Nariman Abbasov -200
Ismael Bonfim +170
Tereza Bleda -300
Nayara Maia +250
Here are my initial thoughts on the Opening Odds For Dana White’s Contender Series 53:
- The main event of this week’s Contender Series is a light heavyweight bout between Vitor Petrino and Rodolfo Bellato. This is a rematch as these two met back in 2019, with Petrino winning by first-round KO. Petrino is just 25 years old and he’s undefeated so far in his MMA career with five of his six wins coming via TKO. In his last fight, he knocked out former UFC fighter Gadzhimurad Antigulov. As for Bellato, he has won his last three fights since losing to Petrino the last time they met three years ago. This should be a fun fight to watch, but given Petrino already has a previous knockout win over Bellato, you have to lean his way here.
- Also on the card is a heavyweight bout between Jimmy Lawson and Kevin Szaflarski. Lawson lost his pro debut in 2019 to current Bellator fighter Said Sowma, but he’s won his last four fights in a row by knockout. As for Szaflarski, he lost his MMA debut in 2015 but he’s won all 11 fights since then. The oddsmakers opened up this bout as a Pick ’em, which is fair considering they have both had similar MMA careers when it comes to starting off with a loss and then having not lost since. It feels very likely someone will be going to sleep in this one. NOTE: Karl Williams has stepped in on short notice for Kevin Szaflarski in this matchup.
