While Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is doing all the right things to coax heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua to sign on with Zuffa Boxing, the promotion would be foolish to entertain Joshua stepping inside of the Octagon.
After all, the former Olympic gold medalist has never training in any combat discipline other than boxing.
Even though UFC is unlikely to ink Joshua only to have him compete inside of the cage, that hasn’t stopped oddsmakers from throwing out some numbers for a potential mixed martial arts (MMA) superfight between Joshua and UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.
According to online gambling outlet Odds Checker, Miocic would be considered a -5000 (1-50) favorite should he ever gets his hands on the WBA (Super), IBF, and IBO heavyweight boxing champion inside of the Octagon. Joshua currently comes in as a +1000 (10-1) underdog.
Those are absolutely staggering betting odds, especially considering Conor McGregor was given a measly -900 edge over Floyd Mayweather Jr. for their potential UFC clash. Maybe the talk of UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley training Mayweather has rubbed off on the oddsmakers.
I guess it’s safe to say that Miocic’s recent UFC title defense over knockout sensation Francis Ngannou is really resonating with the combat sports world. Add in Miocic’s record-setting title reign and the UFC kingpin will be favored against any man on the planet.
Miocic is currently slated to meet UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 226 on July 7 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from Las Vegas, Nevada, in a true MMA superfight.