Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
MMA wagering is weird.
Rose Namajunas was the betting underdog against Jessica Andrade ahead of their UFC 237 title fight, then lost to “Bate Estaca” by way of second-round knockout. Somehow that compelled the sportsbooks to make “Thug” the odds-on favorite for their UFC 251 rematch.
Namajunas is currently sitting pretty at -200 against +170 for Andrade.
Perhaps the brains behind the numbers were impressed with the work Namajunas put in before getting slammed to the mat in the UFC 237 headliner. Or perhaps they were unimpressed with what Andrade did in her follow-up loss to Weili Zhang.
Namajunas has only competed once over the last two years and that was her loss to the venerable Brazilian, so it’s hard to know what version of “Thug” we’ll get after she coughed up her 115-pound title back in May 2019.
To see the rest of the UFC 251 fight card, set for July 11 in Abu Dhabi, click here.