Kamaru Usman predictably opens as massive favorite over Conor McGregor

Kamaru Usman walks away in triumph after his KO of Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261. | Photo by Alex Menendez/Getty Images

Kamaru Usman doesn’t have to worry about Conor McGregor in the cage, but that won’t stop oddsmakers. …


Kamaru Usman walks away in triumph after his KO of Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261.
Kamaru Usman walks away in triumph after his KO of Jorge Masvidal at UFC 261. | Photo by Alex Menendez/Getty Images

Kamaru Usman doesn’t have to worry about Conor McGregor in the cage, but that won’t stop oddsmakers.

For whatever reason, Conor McGregor has decided to pick a social media fight with everyone under the Octagon sun. Granted, this isn’t anything new. McGregor has always invited the most chaotic elements of spectacle. When it comes to trash talk, everyone is fair game. And I do mean ‘everyone.’

So naturally, following a shotgun approach to provoking as many fighters as possible, Kamaru Usman would get caught in the crossfire. We’ve already been through the first act, which started on Monday.

Usman fired back.

In the commotion, SportsBetting.ag put together odds for a potential bout.

Kamaru Usman -700

Conor McGregor +450

There’s nothing to power a potential fight between the two other than the raw force of verbal will. Usman is set to defend his belt against Colby Covington for UFC 268. Actual welterweight contender Vincent Luque is on Dana White’s radar. McGregor, meanwhile, is coming off two losses to Dustin Poirier. His two welterweight wins were over Nate Diaz, and a beyond-his-prime Donald Cerrone.

Technically, there’s precedent for a fight like this. Chael Sonnen was coming off a loss at middleweight for the title against Anderson Silva when he talked his way into a light heavyweight title fight versus Jon Jones at UFC 159. The UFC ‘production truck’ can always revise McGregor’s last fight as nothing more than a freak injury. But that injury is set to keep McGregor out until next year, making potential odds nothing more than hit air. Stranger things have happened, though. Especially as title legitimacy wanes.