Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
What kind of person bets $37k on a UFC fighter’s first fight? Kay Hansen got to meet the man on her way home from Las Vegas.
Kay Hansen is the future, the first of a new batch of women’s mixed martial artists who were drawn into the sport after Ronda Rousey blew onto the scene and made a career in the UFC possible. At just 20 years of age, it’s way too early to tell whether she’ll be able to graduate from prospect to contender. But there’s no doubt there will be many more young women like her popping up on the roster having trained with the UFC in mind from a very young age.
We might not be willing to dub her a serious threat to the champion yet, but one man had enough faith in Hansen’s chances against former atomweight champion Jinh Yu Frey that he was willing to bet a whopping $37,000 on her winning at UFC on ESPN 12 this weekend.
A favorite at -185, that $37,000 bet would yield $20,000 in profit should Hansen win. And win she did, although it wasn’t a sure thing by any means. Frey won the first round on our scorecards, leaving the UFC’s commentary team laughing about how nervous this anonymous better must be feeling coming into round two. But Hansen regrouped in round two and started turning the tide. In round three she dragged Frey to the ground and jumped her back, following that up with an over the top armbar transition forcing Frey to tap (watch the highlights here).
Hello, $57,000.
After the fight, reporters at the post-fight press conference asked Hansen what she thought about the insane amount of money wagered on her fight. While pay numbers haven’t been disclosed yet by the NSAC for the event, we’d be shocked if the late booking earned her more than $10,000 to show and $10,000 to win.
“I saw I saw that like 45 minutes before my fight,” she said. “That’s so crazy to me. I mean, I don’t know who did it. But that’s a lot of money to bet on someone making their UFC debut. But congrats to them, I guess … It didn’t put any pressure on me because that’s your choice. I’m not responsible for fulfilling that. But I mean, it is cool to see people putting that kind of faith in me in a way, I guess. But really crazy for sure.”
Funny enough, Hansen ended up running into the mystery man at the airport, who showed her his betting slip to prove he was indeed the big spender.
https://t.co/l7wor0c5pZ pic.twitter.com/1FG7KX08sC
— Kay Hansen (@KayHansenMMA) June 28, 2020
No word on whether his fancy handbag was filled to the brim with cash, or if he’s a big MMA fan or a degenerate gambler pushed to bet on mixed martial arts because it’s the only major sport in America still up and going (sorry cornhole).