UFC 260: Miocic vs. Ngannou 2 takes place on Saturday, March 27 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. 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.
UFC 260 Odds
Francis Ngannou -225
Stipe Miocic +190
Vicente Luque -240
Tyron Woodley +205
Sean O’Malley -250
Thomas Almeida +210
Alonzo Menifield -250
Fabio Cherant +210
Abu Azaitar -155
Marc-Andre Barriault +135
Khama Worthy -190
Jamie Mullarkey +165
Miranda Maverick -175
Gillian Robertson +150
Abubakar Nurmagomedov -169
Jared Gooden +141
Omar Morales -180
Shane Young +155
Michal Oleksiejczuk -167
Modestas Bukauskas +139
Here are my quick thoughts on the UFC 260 Opening Odds:
- The main event of UFC 260 is a heavyweight title rematch between UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic (20-3) and Francis Ngannou (15-3). The pair previously met at UFC 220 in January 2018, with Miocic winning a unanimous decision that night. Since that first meeting, a lot has happened to both men. Miocic ended up having a trilogy with Daniel Cormier after that, winning two of the three fights and cementing his legacy as one of the sport’s greatest all-time heavyweights. As for Ngannou, he lost his first fight after the Miocic loss to Derrick Lewis in a snoozer, but since then, he’s won four straight fights by first-round knockout over Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, and Junior dos Santos. Ngannou has looked amazing, but we always knew that he had KO power, even before the first time he fought Miocic. The bigger question is, can Ngannou stop the takedowns? If he can, then he’ll have an advantage on the feet as far as power goes. But Miocic is no slouch in the striking department himself, and he has the wrestling to fall back on if needed. It’s a fascinating matchup between two elite heavyweights. The oddsmakers opened up Ngannou as the favorite, but money has been coming in on Miocic and the line is now close to even.
- The co-main event for UFC 260 was originally set to be UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski against Brian Ortega, but the fight was scratched after the champ tested positive for COVID-19. The bout will likely be rescheduled for an upcoming fight card.
- The new co-main event is a welterweight bout between Vicente Luque (19-7-1) and Tyron Woodley (19-6-1). This is an interesting matchup because it’s a big step up for Luque and a step down in name value for Woodley, and yet Luque is the rightful favorite. That’s because Woodley just hasn’t looked like himself in years now. He’s coming off of a TKO loss to Colby Covington and before that he dropped shutout decisions to Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman. As for Luque, he’s one of the most underrated welterweights and he’s earned the right to fight someone in the top-10. He’s won eight of his last nine fights and his last two fights overall, finishing Randy Brown and Niko Price. If he can keep this fight with Woodley standing, he should be at a big advantage. But if Woodley goes back to his wrestling, he can make Luque work. Luque is a big favorite here at the open, but don’t count out Woodley completely just yet.
