PFL MENA 1: Riyadh takes place on Friday, May 10 at The Green Halls in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 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 MENA 1: Riyadh Opening Odds
Abdullah Al-Qahtani -300
Taha Bendaoud +240
Ali Taleb -300
Nawras Abzakh +240
Rachid Haz -165
Xavier Alaoui +135
Tariq Ismail -500
Jalal Deaja +375
Elias Boudegzdame -400
Hassan Mandour +300
Nada Faheem -150
Hattan Alsaif +120
Maraoune Bellagouit -200
Motaz Askar +160
Mido Mohamed -120
Yazeed Hasanain -110
Ahmed Tarek -200
Abdalrahman Alhyasat +160
Malik Basahel -500
Harsh Pandya +375
Here are my quick thoughts on PFL MENA 1: Riyadh:
- The main event of PFL MENA 1 features Abdullah Al-Qahtani against Taha Bendaoud at featherweight. Al-Qahtani enters this fight on three straight wins in PFL, including a win on the recent PFL vs. Bellator card. As for Bendaoud, he has won all three of his pro fights including two bouts in UAE Warriors. Al-Qahtani has far more experience against high-level competition in bigger shows, so it makes sense that he is the betting favorite heading into this fight.
- As for the co-main event, we have Ali Taleb against Nawras Abzakh at bantamweight. Taleb has won two of his last three fights in PFL and all but one of his pro bouts overall. As for Abzakh, he comes from UAE Warriors and he has won five of his last six fights overall. This should be a very good fight between two solid prospects, but you have to lean toward Taleb given that he already has experience fighting in PFL which should come in handy here.
- This new PFL MENA series is meant to showcase some of the best international talent out there and it should be very interesting to see how it plays out given many of these fighters have solid pedigrees but aren’t big names.
