UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa takes place on Saturday, September 26 at Fight Island on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. 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 253 Odds
Israel Adesanya -140
Paulo Costa +120
Dominick Reyes -200
Jan Blachowicz +170
Ketlen Vieira -280
Sijara Eubanks +240
Kai Kara-France -185
Brandon Royval +160
Zubair Tukhugov -160
Hakeem Dawodu +140
Brad Riddell -240
Alex da Silva +205
Jake Matthews -450
Diego Sanchez +350
Shane Young -165
Ludovit Klein +125
Aleksa Camur -130
William Knight +110
Juan Espino -220
Jeff Hughes +185
Khadis Ibragimov -240
Danilo Marques +205
Here are my initial thoughts on the UFC 253 Opening Odds:
- The main event between Adesanya and Costa is being called “Fight of the Year” by UFC president Dana White already, and it’s hard to disagree with him. Both Adesanya and Costa are undefeated fighters who are in the primes of their MMA careers and this fight truly has the potential to be one of the best middleweight title fights ever. Adesanya looked human in his last fight against Yoel Romero but he still got his hand raised to improve his UFC record to 8-0. As for Costa, he’s also coming off of a win over Romero and is a perfect 5-0 in the UFC. You have to give Adesanya the status of favorite as the champion, but don’t underestimate Costa.
- The co-main event should also be a great fight as the vacant UFC light heavyweight title is on the line between Reyes and Blachowicz. Reyes is coming off of a razor-thin decision loss to Jon Jones in a fight that many thought he won. Prior to that, Reyes had defeated all six of his opponents in the Octagon. As for Blachowicz, he is a long-time veteran of the sport but has looked to be in fantastic form as of late with a 7-1 record over his last eight fights. Blachowicz has won plenty of fights as an underdog and is generally very underrated but with Reyes arguably beating Jones, you can understand why the oddsmakers opened him as the fav.
- Another really fun fight on the main card sees a pair of top-10 flyweights go at it when Kara-France fights Royval. Kara-France is 4-1 overall in the UFC while Royval is 1-0 with a submission win over Tim Elliott in his UFC debut. This could very well be a sleeper for “Fight of the Night” as both men are always in great fights. Kara-France is definitely solid and has earned his keep in the UFC, but I can’t help but feel like Royval has value as an underdog.
- One fight on the prelims that has people talking is the welterweight bout between Sanchez and Matthews. Although Sanchez is in the latter days of his UFC Hall of Fame career, it’s still surprising to see him this much of an underdog. Yes, Matthews is much younger and should be the bigger man, but Sanchez has won plenty of fights as an underdog over the years. Matthews should win this fight, but I can’t blame anyone for taking a shot on Sanchez here.
