UFC Baku: Fiziev vs. Torres takes place on Saturday, June 27, at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan. 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 Baku Odds
Rafael Fiziev -142
Manuel Torres +120
Shara Magomedov -300
Michel Pereira +250
Abus Magomedov -190
Michal Oleksiejczuk +165
Ikram Aliskerov -300
Brunno Ferreira +250
Nursulton Ruziboev -250
Andrey Pulyaev +210
Farman Hasanov -110
Eric Nolan -110
Asu Almabayev -400
Charles Johnson +330
Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev -500
Julius Walker +385
Jean Matsumoto -200
Bekzat Almakhan +170
Daniil Donchenko -1200
Theodor Berggren +775
Nazim Sadykhov -160
Matheus Camilo +140
Javier Reyes -150
Kaan Ofli +130
Here are my quick thoughts on the UFC Baku Opening Odds:
- The main event of UFC Baku is a lightweight bout for five rounds or fewer between Rafael Fiziev and Manuel Torres. Fiziev is a native of Azerbaijan, so he will be fighting at home in this fight. He is coming off a knockout loss to Mauricio Ruffy, and he has lost four of his last five fights overall, but two of those defeats came against UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje in competitive decisions, and the other loss was an injury TKO defeat to Mateusz Gamrot. As for Torres, he is 5-1 in the UFC, and he is coming off two straight knockout wins over Grant Dawson and Drew Dober. This should be an amazing fight between two strikers, but with Fiziev fighting at home, the bookies opened him up as a slight betting favorite to win.
- In the co-main event, we have Shara Magomdedov taking on Michel Pereira at middleweight. Magomedov has won five of his six UFC fights, and he is coming off a decision win over Marc-Andre Barriault, while Pereira won a split decision over Zach Reese in his last fight to snap a three-fight losing skid. With Pereira on the downside of his career, Magomedov is the rightful favorite to win this fight.
