UFC on ESPN takes place Saturday, July 20 at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the full card, and here they are.
UFC on ESPN 4 Opening Odds
Rafael dos Anjos -135
Leon Edwards -105
Walt Harris -135
Aleksei Oleinik -105
Ben Rothwell -215
Andrei Arlovski +165
Irene Aldana -145
Raquel Pennington +105
Alexander Hernandez -175
Francisco Trinaldo +135
Juan Adams -155
Greg Hardy +115
Domingo Pilarte -275
Felipe Corales +195
Dan Hooker -185
James Vick +145
Alex Caceres -130
Steven Peterson -110
Klidson Abreu -150
Sam Alvey +110
Jin Soo Son -265
Mario Bautista +185
Jennifer Maia -130
Roxanne Modafferi -110
Ray Borg -295
Gabriel Silva +215
And here are my initial thoughts on the UFC on ESPN 4 Opening Odds:
- The main event should be an amazing fight between two of the best welterweights in the world in dos Anjos and Edwards. RDA is coming off of a submission win over Kevin Lee which snapped a two-fight losing skid to Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman. It was the kind of win that showed RDA still has plenty of gas left in the tank. As for Edwards, he’s perhaps the most underrated welterweight in the UFC. He’s riding a seven-fight win streak right now and hasn’t lost since a 2015 decision defeat to Usman. RDA is a former champion and is the bigger name, but don’t sleep on Edwards in this fight. It’s a close one to call, and that’s why the odds have stayed steady as a near Pick ’em.
- The co-main event is a heavyweight bout between Oleinik and Harris. Olenik is coming off of a TKO loss to Alistair Overeem but isn’t far removed from a two-fight win streak over Mark Hunt and Junior Albini. With his submission game, you can never count him out of a fight. As for Harris, he’s unbeaten in his last three fights and has two wins by knockout over that stretch. Harris is finally living up to his potential while Oleinik looks like he could finally be hitting a decline at age 42. As long as Harris can keep this fight standing, he should win.
- Another heavyweight bout sees Rothwell and Arlovski rematch. These two fought 11 years ago in Affliction, with Arlovski winning by knockout. This time around, Rothwell is favored to win. Rothwell hasn’t won a fight since 2016 but he’s still a very durable and hard-hitting heavyweight. As for Arlovski, he’s on a four-fight losing skid and is 2-8, 1 NC overall dating back to 2016. You just can’t trust Arlovski anymore, and Rothwell is a deserved favorite in the rematch.
- One heavyweight bout that’s getting quite a bit of interest sees Hardy take on Adams. Hardy is coming off of a knockout win over Dmitry Smoliakov to bounce back after being DQed against Allen Crowder, while Adams recently lost a decision to Arjan Bhullar. Hardy opened up as a dog and the line is currently a Pick ’em. I personally like Hardy in this fight and think we are getting a pretty good number on him here as I figured he would be a bigger favorite here.
- Overall it looks like a fun card with plenty of potential betting opportunities.
