In the main event of UFC 275, the light heavyweight title is up for grabs as Glover Teixeira looks to defend his belt for the first time against Jiri Prochazka. The card takes place on Saturday, June 11 in Singapore.
UFC 275 Opening Odds:
Glover Teixeira +108
Jiri Prochazka -130
UFC 275 Current Odds (as of May 16):
Glover Teixeira +160
Jiri Prochazka -190
Teixeira and Prochazka’s recent fights
Glover Teixeira (33-7) became the UFC’s light heavyweight champion back in October as he submitted Jan Blachowicz in the second round. Prior to that, the Brazilian submitted Thiago Santos, TKO’d Anthony Smith, beat Nikita Krylov by decision and submitted Ion Cutelaba and Karl Roberson. His last loss came at the hands of Corey Anderson back in July of 2018 as he dropped a decision. The Brazilian holds notable wins over Rashad Evans, Jared Cannonier, Ovince Saint Preux, Ryan Bader, and Rampage Jackson among others.
Jiri Prochazka (28-3-1) is a perfect 2-0 in the UFC as the former RIZIN light heavyweight champion signed with the UFC in 2020. He then knocked out Volkan Oezdemir in the second round at UFC 251. The Czech native then followed that up with a highlight-reel spinning back elbow KO over Dominick Reyes in May of 2021 in his first UFC main event. In his career, he has beaten the likes of C.B. Dollaway, Fabio Maldonado, King Mo, Brandon Halsey, Karl Albrektsson, Vadim Nemkov, Satoshi Ishii, and Bruno Cappelozza among others.
Are the odds surprising?
The opening odds were a bit surprising as I thought Prochazka would be a bigger favorite as he has been someone many have been high on even before he signed with the UFC. Teixeira, meanwhile, has not gotten the oddsmakers respect as of late as even though he’s on a six-fight win streak he was a +200 underdog against both Blachowicz and Santos while being +195 against Anthony Smith. The last time he was a favorite against Ion Cutelaba as he was only a -125 favorite and was a pick’em against Nikita Krylov. Bettors have constantly overlooked him and it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the money and action come in on Prochazka to swell this line to nearly 2-to-1.
How might the odds change?
As we have already seen, money has come in on Prochazka and I expect that to be the case right up until June 11. The Czech fighter will likely be over a -200 favorite come fight time but if the champ gets around +200, sharp money will come in on the champ as he does have path to victories and he has proven he has a solid chin. Come fight time, I expect Prochazka to be around -215 with the comeback on the champ being +175.
