UFC on ESPN 14: Whittaker vs. Till takes place on Saturday, July 25 at Fight Island on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the full card, and here they are.
UFC on ESPN 14: Whittaker vs. Till Opening Odds
Robert Whittaker -135
Darren Till +115
Mauricio Rua -300
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira +250
Alexander Gustafsson -240
Fabricio Werdum +205
Marina Rodriguez -140
Carla Esparza +120
Gadzhimurad Antigulov -125
Paul Craig +105
Alex Oliveira -170
Peter Sobotta +145
Khamzat Chimaev -600
Rhys McKee +450
Francisco Trinaldo -180
Jai Herbert +140
Nicolas Dalby -500
Jesse Ronson +375
Tom Aspinall -170
Jake Collier +145
Movsar Evloev -270
Mike Grundy +230
Tanner Bosser -210
Raphael Pessoa +160
Pannie Kianzad -115
Bethe Correia -105
Ramazan Emeev -245
Niklas Stolze +175
Nathaniel Wood -365
John Castaneda +255
Here are my initial thoughts on the UFC on ESPN 14 Opening Odds:
- The first thing to note is UFC on ESPN 14 has 15 fights scheduled for it, which is the most fights on a UFC card since UFC 2 way back in 1994. For fight fans, this is as good as it gets.
- The main event is an incredible fight between two elite middleweights as Whittaker takes on Till. Whittaker is coming off of a KO loss to Israel Adesanya to lose his belt at UFC 243 last October but before that had won nine straight fights. Even with that KO loss to Adesanya, Whittaker is still one of the best in the world. As for Till, he had a tough time cutting weight for his last few welterweight bouts and suffered badly for it. In his middleweight debut, he defeated Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 244 last November via split decision. This is a really tough fight to pick and I don’t recommend betting on this fight as I believe it could go either way.
- The co-main event is a trilogy fight between two Brazilian legends in Rua and Nogueira. These two have met twice before, with Rua winning both fights by decision. Both men are now even older than they were before so it’s hard to know what to expect from both guys in this fight, though it’s worth noting both may retire following this event. I lean towards Rua to win again based on their previous encounters, but the opening line feels like it’s a bit too wide.
- It will be interesting to see Gustafsson make his heavyweight debut against Werdum. Gustafsson retired following a submission loss to Anthony Smith last June but decided to come out of retirement and move up a weight class for this bout. I’ve always loved watching Gustafsson fight, but he hasn’t won a fight since 2017, and I have no idea where he is mentally at this point. Then again, Werdum is soon going to be 43 years old and he is coming off of a split decision loss to Alexei Oleinik where he showed his age. Based on that Oleinik fight you have to fade Werdum here, but I feel like Gustafsson is way too big of a favorite.
- And finally, yes that’s the same Chimaev who just beat John Phillips last week. He makes his return here against UFC newcomer Rhys McKee and is a massive favorite to pick up his second win in 10 days, which would break a UFC record if he is successful.
