The opening odds for the upcoming featherweight superfight between UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg and UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes was recently released by MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas at Several Bookmakers. Here are the opening odds below:
UFC Futures Opening Odds
Cris Cyborg -220
Amanda Nunes +180
Kalikas also offered the following comments on the opening line:
“Cris Cyborg’s true test has finally arrived in UFC women’s
bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes. Both fighters have several
similarities. Both are fierce strikers with tremendous knockout power
and finishing ability. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Nunes mixing
things up and trying to utilize offensive wrestling against Cyborg,
which won’t be an easy task due to the opponent’s size and strength
advantage.”
And here is my initial reaction to the opening betting line for Cyborg vs. Nunes:
I’m just glad that the wheels are finally in motion for this fight to happen between Cyborg and Nunes. It’s the two best female fighters in the world going at it at 145lbs, and fans should be excited to see this true female superfight.
Cyborg (20-1, 1 NC) is unbeaten since losing her first MMA fight way back in 2005 and has looked utterly unstoppable since coming to the UFC, winning the UFC women’s featherweight title in the process. Since joining the UFC after a strong run in Strikeforce and Invicta FC, Cyborg is 5-0 with four knockout wins. Her list of UFC victories is impressive, with wins over Holly Holm, Leslie Smith, Tonya Evinger, Lina Lansberg and Yana Kunitskaya. Cyborg’s striking is utterly dominant and she has an exceptional grappling attack as well. She’s proven she can go five strong rounds, and it’s a good question if anyone will ever emerge as an actual threat to her title.
Enter Nunes (16-4). The UFC women’s bantamweight champion is on a seven-fight win streak and is 9-1 overall in the UFC with wins over Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko (twice), Raquel Pennington, Miesha Tate and Germaine de Randamie, among others. Nunes has been utterly dominant herself at 135lbs since losing to Cat Zingano in 2014 and at this point it doesn’t look like anyone in the women’s featherweight division is going to beat her anytime soon.
The UFC is making the right call here having Nunes move up to 145lbs to fight Cyborg as it’s the biggest fight possible and the fight the fans want to see. That being said, this looks like a good matchup for Cyborg. As good as Nunes is on the feet, Cyborg is even better, and Cyborg should also be able to match Nunes in the grappling department. Cyborg will be the bigger, stronger fighter and although Nunes may be faster I would also give Cyborg an advantage when it comes to the cardio department. It’s possible Nunes could catch Cyborg and knock her out, but based on what we’ve seen, it’s likely going to be Cyborg piecing Nunes up and picking up yet another win. I like Cyborg at these opening odds especially considering she’s usually a much stronger favorite. I expect Nunes to get some respect from the bettors, but the value is on Cyborg right now in my opinion.
