PFL 8 takes place Friday, October 5 at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. The offshore sportsbooks recently released the opening odds for the card, and here they are.
PFL 8 Opening Odds
Francimar Barroso -265
Josh Copeland +185
Steven Siler -180
Nazareno Malegarie +140
Lance Palmer -675
Max Coga +425
Jared Rosholt -230
Kevin Tiller +170
Alexandre Almeida -1200
Jumabieke Tuerxun +600
Andre Harrison -750
Alexandre Bezerra +450
Jack May -160
Alex Nicholson +120
Muhammed Dereese -380
Mike Kyle +260
Philipe Lins -195
Caio Alencar +155
Jeremy Kennedy -600
Marcos Galvao +400
And here are my initial reactions to the PFL 8 opening odds:
– In a heavyweight quarterfinal, Barroso takes on Copeland and the oddsmakers favor the Brazilian to win. It’s hard not to like him in this one. Barroso has looked great in PFL so far, taking out both Jack May and Daniel Gallemore via stoppage to take the top seed. Copeland on the other hand was knocked out by May before winning a decision over Shawn Jordan. Copeland is the bigger guy but Barroso isn’t small by any means and I believe he’s the more well-rounded fighter. I expect Barroso to take home a decision.
– Another heavyweight quartefinal sees Jack May take on Alex Nicholson. The oddsmakers are favoring May to win, but I’m not so sure he does. May did knock out Copeland in his first PFL fight but his submission loss to Barroso wasn’t ideal and we’ve seen May get stopped a number of times in his career. I just don’t completely trust him. Nicholson was knocked out by Philipe Lins in his last fight but before that had beaten Jake Huen by knockout. Nicholson is inconsistent but he’s the younger fighter and I believe more durable and I think he has a good chance to win as an underdog.
– There’s a couple big mismatches on this card. In one of them, Almeida takes on Tuerxun. I don’t see any way Tuerxun wins this fight. Almeida may have lost to Steven Siler in a big upset but I still think he’s a solid fighter. Tuerxun, on the other hand, is the guy PFL brought in to lose to the top guys at 145lbs. Similarly, I can’t see any way Harrison loses. Harrison is still undefeated in his MMA career at 19-0 and while he is boring to watch, he gets the job done. Bezerra has won his last three fights and has looked good in PFL so far but this is a guy we’ve seen lose a number of times in his career. I expect Harrison to easily win a decision.
– In non-tournament action, it’s hard not to like Kennedy over Galvao. Kennedy bounced back nicley from his TKO loss to Alexander Volkanovski in the UFC with a TKO win in BRAVE CF and PFL was smart to sign him. For years Galvao was one of the most underrated featherweights in MMA but he’s lost four straight fights and looks like he’s on the last legs of his career. I can’t see any way he wins this fight over the younger, faster and stronger Kennedy.
