With the shocking announcement 24 hours ago that Jon Jones was out of the main event of UFC 200, the promotion has been scrambling to find a replacement. They found one in former middleweight champion and pound-for-pound legend Anderson Silva, who will return to the Octagon to battle Cormier in a non-title bout on the UFC 200 main card. MMAOddsmaker Nick Kalikas opened the betting odds for Cormier vs Silva via ESPN just moments ago:
Cormier will open a -600 favorite over Silva +400, per @FightOdds. First time in 10 years Silva will be an underdog. pic.twitter.com/TuJDImjV8v
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) July 8, 2016
Here’s what Kalikas had to say about the match-up:
“Anderson Silva has not been an underdog in 10 years since he first fought Rich Franklin for the title at UFC 64 in October 2006. That streak ends today. Silva has agreed to step in on two days’ notice in place of Jon Jones, against UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, a fighter with elite wrestling credentials. Silva was the best fighter in the world at one point, but that was several years ago. Silva has had trouble with wrestlers, is entering the twilight of his career, had gallbladder surgery two months ago and you can’t discount the fact that he’s taking the fight on two days’ notice. There is a huge swing in the odds here as Cormier was a 3-1 underdog against Jones, but he’s going to be a hefty -600 favorite here against Silva. Silva brings a big name to UFC 200, but I don’t expect him to be very competitive.”