UFC 298: Volkanovski vs. Topuria takes place on Saturday, February 17 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The offshore sportsbooks recently opened up the betting odds for the event, and MMAOB staff writer Adam Martin looks at the opening odds below.
UFC 298 Odds
Alex Volkanovski -175
Ilia Topuria +140
Robert Whittaker -300
Paulo Costa +250
Ian Garry -240
Geoff Neal +205
Merab Dvalishvili -160
Henry Cejudo +140
Anthony Hernandez -150
Roman Kopylov +130
Amanda Lemos -270
Mackenzie Dern +230
Marcos Rogerio de Lima -190
Justin Tafa +165
Rinya Nakamura -800
Carlos Vera +450
Mingyang Zhang -115
Brendson Ribeiro -105
Danny Barlow -175
Josh Quinlan +150
Oban Elliot -260
Valentine Woodburn +220
Miranda Maverick -170
Andrea Lee +145
Here are my quick thoughts on the UFC 298 Opening Odds:
- The main event of UFC 298 is a UFC featherweight title bout between champion Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria. Volkanovski is coming off a brutal KO loss to Islam Makhachev, but that fight was at lightweight, and now he moves back down to featherweight, where he has never lost inside the Octagon. In his last featherweight bout, he knocked out Yair Rodriguez. As for Topuria, he is a perfect 6-0 in the UFC and has looked amazing overall in the weight class. Obviously, Topuria has a chance to win this fight given how solid he’s looked inside the Octagon. That being said, it’s still difficult to pick against the defending champion Volkanovski.
- The co-main event of UFC 298 is a middleweight bout between former champion Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa. Whittaker is coming off a brutal TKO loss to Dricus Du Plessis, but after Du Plessis defeated Sean Strickland to become the new champion, that loss doesn’t look so bad in hindsight. As for Costa, he has not fought since 2022 following a decision win over Luke Rockhold. Given the long layoff from Costa and the fact that Whittaker is a former champion, you obviously have to favorite “Bobby Knuckles” to get the win in this fight.
