The oddsmakers have spoken and opened Israel Adesanya as a slight betting favorite for his upcoming title rematch with UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira at UFC 287 this April.
The middleweight rematch was announced Friday night by UFC president, Dana White, who launched a special video announcement and all to break the news. Per White, Pereira vs. Adesanya 2 will serve as UFC 287’s main event going down on April 8 at a venue and location yet to be determined (Miami and Brooklyn are potential landing spots).
Per BetOnline, Adesanya has opened as a -145 betting favorite. That means a $145 bet on “Last Stylebender” to avenge his UFC 281 loss to Pereira will net fight fans $100. Even though Adesanya sports a 12-1 record as a member of the UFC’s middleweight division it’s little surprising to see him the betting favorite for UFC 287. After all, Pereira is 3-0 against Adesanya if you count their meetings inside of the kickboxing ring.
Pereira, on the other hand, has opened as a +125 betting underdog for his reboot with “Last Stylebender” at UFC 287. That means a $100 bet on “Poaton” to retain his 185-pound title will net fight fans a cool $125. Those are great odds, especially considering Pereira has the punching power to stop Adesanya at any moment in a 25-minute fight.
Heading into their initial middleweight title fight at UFC 281 last November Adesanya was a -200 favorite to defend his title for the sixth-straight time. Pereira, who was a +170 underdog for UFC 281, battled through four rounds of adversity to finish “Last Stylebender” with a fifth-round TKO stoppage to claim the title.
The UFC 287 fight card is still in the works, but the pay-per-view (PPV) main card is expected to feature the following bouts:
Gilbert Burns vs. Jorge Masvidal
Kevin Holland vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Christian Rodriguez
Rob Font vs. Adrian Yanez
Stick with Mania for more UFC 287 fight card news.