Esther Lin
Most sportsbooks will release betting odds for fantasy fights once the public expresses enough interest in them to warrant an opening line. That also happens when negotiations become public, much like they did for Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone, who were in talks to throw down as far back as late 2018.
Bovada had “Notorious” pegged as a -185 favorite.
Now that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President, Dana White, has informed the combat sports media that McGregor vs. Cerrone will headline the UFC 246 pay-per-view (PPV) event this January in Las Vegas, that line has jumped to -275.
“It’s not going to be an easy fight for either guy, but I do think Conor McGregor should be a solid favorite,” said Nick Kalikas of MMAOddsbreaker.com (via BJPenn.com). “The best path for victory for Cerrone is to get the fight to the ground and trying to submit McGregor. On the feet, Cerrone definitely has a shot but I think McGregor probably picks him apart and hurts him so that’s his path to victory. If he can keep it on the feet he probably wins and wins in impressive fashion.”
It seems strange that we have the No. 3 and No. 5-ranked lightweights fighting at 170 pounds, but I guess UFC is finally embracing its prize fighting roots instead of pretending it’s a real sport, and in prize fighting, you make the fights with the biggest prize.
It’s not always fair to the other fighters but hey, that’s business.
McGregor (21-4) has not competed since late 2018, when he was choked into submission by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229. As for Cerrone (36-13, 1 NC), he’s mired in a dreadful two-fight losing streak where he was stopped twice.
Not surprisingly, “Cowboy” remains a +215 underdog.