UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal 2 takes place on Saturday, April 24 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. 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 261 Odds
Kamaru Usman -300
Jorge Masvidal +250
Valentina Shevchenko -335
Jessica Andrade +275
Weili Zhang -200
Rose Namajunas +170
Uriah Hall -135
Chris Weidman +115
Brendan Allen -205
Karl Roberson +175
Jimmy Crute -155
Anthony Smith +135
Danaa Batgerel -150
Kevin Natividad +130
Qileng Aori -115
Jeffrey Molina -105
Ariane Carnelossi -150
Na Liang +130
Zhu Rong -250
Rodrigo Vargas +210
Randy Brown -145
Alex Oliveira +125
Dwight Grant -300
Stefan Sekulic +250
Tristan Connelly -125
Pat Sabatini +105
Johnny Munoz -275
Jamey Simmons +235
Here are my quick thoughts on the UFC 261 Opening Odds:
- UFC 261 is a very special card, to say the least. Not only are there three title fights on the top of the card, but there will also be a sold-out crowd of fans back in attendance for the first time in a year. It should be a fantastic event and you don’t want to miss this weekend’s big card.
- In the main event, we have the rematch between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal. These two met last summer at UFC 251 and Usman won a unanimous decision with Masvidal taking the fight on short notice. Thes two now meet less than a year later in the rematch, with Masvidal having a full camp. I’m still not sure that will be enough for him to get by Usman, however. We saw in the first fight that Usman had a big grappling advantage and it’s hard to say that will be any different 10 months later. Masvidal should be in better condition so I would expect a more competitive fight, but the oddsmakers were right in naming Usman the favorite.
- There are two other title fights on the card, both in the UFC women’s divisions. At 115lbs, we have Weili Zhang putting up her women’s strawweight belt against Rose Namajunas. Zhang hasn’t fought since a split decision win over Joanna Jedrzejczyk last March, while Namajunas is coming off of a split decision win over Jessica Andrade her last time out. Namajunas holds some physical advantages in this fight and should make it competitive, which is why Zhang only opened as a moderate favorite. However, it’s hard to go against the champ. The same thing can be said for the other title fight between women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko when she takes on the aforementioned Andrade. Shevchenko has been absolutely unbeatable since moving down to 125lbs while Andrade has been up-and-down during her UFC career. Andrade is a good fighter, but Shevchenko is the clear favorite.
- Another really good fight on the main card is a rematch between Chris Weidman and Uriah Hall. These two met years ago in Ring of Combat with Weidman knocking Hall out. A decade later and Hall is now slightly favored to get the win. Considering how often Weidman has been getting knocked out as of late, it’s hard to pick him here against a striker like Hall, who is coming off of a KO win over Anderson Silva. Still, Weidman has the wrestling edge.
