PFL 6 takes place Thursday, August 16 at Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The offshore sportsbooks recently released the opening odds for the card, and here they are.
PFL 6 Opening Odds
Pavel Kusch -125
Ray Cooper III -115
Abubakar Nurmagomedov -600
Jonatan Westin +400
Joao Zeferino -335
Yuri Villefort +245
Magomed Magomedkerimov -155
Bojan Velickovic +115
Kayla Harrison -475
Jozette Cotton +325
Rick Story -400
Carl Minus +280
Shamil Gamzatov -285
Rex Harris +205
Bruno Santos -140
John Howard +100
Gasan Umalatov -180
Eddie Gordon +140
Jake Shields -210
Herman Terrado +160
Louis Taylor -290
Andre Lobato +210
Abusupiyan Magomedov -400
Anderson Goncalves +280
And here are my initial thoughts on the PFL 6 opening odds:
– The main event between Kusch and Cooper should be good. Kusch (23-5) submitted Abubakar Nurmagomedov in his PFL debut in what was a massive upset. Overall he has won nine of his last 10 fights. Cooper (14-5) absolutely destroyed Jake Shields in his PFL debut and he’s won three of his last four fights overall. I was blown away by Cooper’s performance against Shields and if he can do that to a veteran like Shields, the sky is the limit for ths kid. I like him at these odds.
– Speaking of Nurmagomedov, he should be able to get by Westin in this fight… you’d hope. Nurmagomedov (14-2) lost to Kusch in a massive upset but the cousin of Khabib had won six straight fights prior to that. Westin (10-3) had his six-fight win streak snapped by Bojan Velickovic in his PFL debut. Nothing really stands out about his game to me and I fully expect Nurmagomedov to get his first PFL win. But at these odds and considering what happened in his last fight, I don’t think I could bet on him at these odds.
– In a showcase bout, I fully expect Harrison to destroy Cotton. Harrison (1-0) is a super prospect in MMA and looked amazing in her PFL debut when she tapped out Brittney Elkin. Cotton (8-1) is on a two-fight win streak but she has fought a really low level of competition and this is a fight PFL made for Harrison to win. I think the opening line was really low for Harrison.
– Buried on the undercard, I think there’s good value on Shields against Terrado. Shields (32-10-1) is coming off of a devastating TKO loss to Ray Cooper, but overall he’s been one of the best welterweights in the world for years. I’m not ready to write Shields off just yet. Terrado (15-4-1) lost to Magomed Magomedkerimov in his last outing but had won four straight fights before that. I just don’t think Terrado is on the same level of Shields and I fully expect Shields to get the win here.
– Also on the prelims Story takes on Minus in what should be a mismatch. Story (20-9) picked up a decision win over Yuri Villefort in his PFL debut and overall he’s won four of his last five fights with his lone recent loss to Donald Cerrone. Minus (9-0) beat Justin Buchholz in his last fight but other than him he’s been fighting a low level of competition in Alaska FC. As my colleague James Lynch says, fade the Alaska FC guys and go with Story to get the win.
