Early UFC 272 betting odds have Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan as the favorites in their upcoming title fight rematches.
On Wednesday, ESPN was first to report that a pair of title fights would headline the UFC’s March pay-per-view extravaganza. In the co-main event, Aljamain Sterling (20-3) and Petr Yan (16-2) will face off in a bantamweight unification bout to decide an undisputed champion. In the card’s headliner, Max Holloway (23-6) and Alexander Volkanovski (23-1) will meet for the third time with featherweight gold on the line.
Both are major matchups in the promotion and feature several pound-for-pound ranked talents. So it should come as no surprise that just a couple of hours after the news broke, came early betting odds for the event’s title fights.
Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan are favorites in early UFC 272 betting odds
BetOnline.ag released their first set of numbers on the matchups and Yan is the most sizable favorite of the quartet.
The site lists the Russian, and current interim champion, as a -310 favorite with “Funkmaster” as a +260 underdog. The bout is a rematch of their March 2021 fight that Sterling won by disqualification after he was badly hurt from an illegal knee by Yan in the fourth round. At that point in the bout, “No Mercy” seemed to be running away with the fight as the American was reeling and didn’t seem to have any answers for the takedown defense and elite striking of Yan. It’s not much of a surprise then that he heads into the second fight a big favorite.
Sterling has not fought since his victory over Yan at UFC 259 after recovery from a serious neck injury has gone much slower than expected. Yan fought in October at UFC 267, beating Cory Sandhagen for interim gold in a hard-fought and outstanding showcase of elite MMA striking from both men.
In the main event, the site has Volkanovski as a -180 favorite and former division king Holloway as a +155 underdog. This will be the Aussie’s second title defense after dethroning Holloway in 2019. This will also be “Blessed’s” second attempt at trying to rest back his title after falling short by split-decision in the duos 2020 controversial rematch.
Holloway has won two straight since failing in his first bid to regain the UFC featherweight title. Beating top-10 talents in Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez. Volkanovski successfully defended his title in Sept. against Brian Ortega, in a scrap that landed on many 2021 fights of the year lists.
What are your thoughts on the early betting odds for the two UFC 272 title fights?
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