PFL 2021: Week 5 takes place on Thursday, June 17 at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 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.
PFL 2021: Week 5 Opening Odds
Rory MacDonald -600
Gleison Tibau +400
Ray Cooper III -200
Nikolay Aleksakhin +160
Emiliano Sordi -400
Dan Spohn +300
Cezar Ferreira -300
Chris Camozzi +240
Antonio Carlos Junior -300
Vinny Magalhaes +240
Marthin Hamlet -185
Cory Hendricks +155
Joao Zeferino -300
Jason Ponet +240
Magomed Magomedkerikov -1000
Curtis Millender +600
Jordan Young -200
Tom Lawlor +160
Aleksei Kunchenko -240
Sadibou Sy +190
Here are my quick thoughts on the PFL 2021: Week 5 Opening Odds:
- The main event of this week’s PFL slate is a regular-season welterweight bout between Rory MacDonald and Gleison Tibau. MacDonald is coming off of a successful PFL debut when he took down Curtis Millender and choked him out for a lopsided win. He now takes on a fellow UFC veteran in the form of Tibau, who lost a decision to Joao Zeferino in his own PFL debut. MacDonald opened up as a massive favorite for this fight, and given the fact that he’s a big welterweight and Tibau should probably be fighting at lightweight, it makes sense. MacDonald is the favorite to win the PFL welterweight tournament and another finish here would be key.
- Another great welterweight bout on this card features Ray Cooper III against Nikolay Aleksakhin. Cooper won the last PFL welterweight tournament and in this year’s regular-season he submitted Jason Ponet in his first outing. Overall, Cooper hasn’t lost over his last four fights. As for Aleksakhin, he is unbeaten over his last eight fights and most recently he fought to a No Contest when his fight with Sadibou Sy was stopped due to an accidental eye poke. There are some who view Aleksakhin as one of the favorites to win this tournament.
- The light heavyweights are also on this card and one of the better fights features Emiliano Sordi, who won the last PFL 205lbs tournament, against Dan Spohn. Sordi has won his last six fights in a row and in this year’s tournament he beat Chris Camozzi in his first regular-season fight. As for Spohn, he is a former UFC fighter who has lost his last three fights in a row. Spohn seems like fade material at this point and it’s no surprise to see Sordi favored here.
- Another fun fight on this card features a pair of excellent grapplers as Antonio Carlos Junior takes on Vinny Magalhaes in a battle between former UFC fighters. Junior submitted Tom Lawlor in his last fight to snap a three-fight losing skid that saw him get bounced out of the UFC. As for Magalhaes, we haven’t seen him in the PFL cage since 2019, when he submitted Rakim Cleveland. Give Magalhaes’ long layoff, it’s hard to see him getting past Junior in this fight given the fact Junior has been so active as of late and has been facing quality opponents. Either way, this fight should be a real treat if it hits the mat.
