UFC 184 Betting Odds: Ronda Rousey Opens at a Totally Reasonable -1300 Over Cat Zingano


(Quick Cat, now’s your chance! It’s literally your only chance!!)

Back when Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano were originally booked to fight following a coaching stint on TUF 18, the champion was being given something around 7-to-1 odds over the undefeated #1 contender. One ACL tear and a little over a year later, Rousey and Zingano have once again been booked to throw down — this time in the co-main event of UFC 184 in February. And if the early odds are any indication, Zingano is even deader than before.

While it’s true that “Alpha Cat” looked impressive in her come-from-behind TKO of Amanda Nunes at UFC 178, Rousey has been making mincemeat of so-called “top contenders” lately and appears to hold a definitive size advantage over Zingano to boot. What I’m saying is, if you add all these factors together, you wind up with an even bigger squash match that what already was. You wind up with Ronda Rousey being listed as a flabbergasting -1300 favorite over Zingano, which is exactly what happened when the gambling lines opened this morning.

To be fair, Rousey has since dropped to around a -1000 favorite, and Zingano’s chances have improved slightly (from +700 to +600), but you’d have to be Lloyd Christmas to find those odds even slightly intriguing. For context: Rousey was listed at 20-1 over Alexis Davis, and that fight lasted 16 seconds.

So basically, Rousey should still wrap things up inside a minute despite the fact that Zingano is arguably her toughest challenge yet (she’ll be marketed that way, in any case). Are all the incredibly awkward interviews worth this, Cat? GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN.

We now go live to our gambling expert, Stephan Bonnar, for analysis…


(Quick Cat, now’s your chance! It’s literally your only chance!!)

Back when Ronda Rousey and Cat Zingano were originally booked to fight following a coaching stint on TUF 18, the champion was being given something around 7-to-1 odds over the undefeated #1 contender. One ACL tear and a little over a year later, Rousey and Zingano have once again been booked to throw down — this time in the co-main event of UFC 184 in February. And if the early odds are any indication, Zingano is even deader than before.

While it’s true that “Alpha Cat” looked impressive in her come-from-behind TKO of Amanda Nunes at UFC 178, Rousey has been making mincemeat of so-called “top contenders” lately and appears to hold a definitive size advantage over Zingano to boot. What I’m saying is, if you add all these factors together, you wind up with an even bigger squash match that what already was. You wind up with Ronda Rousey being listed as a flabbergasting -1300 favorite over Zingano, which is exactly what happened when the gambling lines opened this morning.

To be fair, Rousey has since dropped to around a -1000 favorite, and Zingano’s chances have improved slightly (from +700 to +600), but you’d have to be Lloyd Christmas to find those odds even slightly intriguing. For context: Rousey was listed at 20-1 over Alexis Davis, and that fight lasted 16 seconds.

So basically, Rousey should still wrap things up inside a minute despite the fact that Zingano is arguably her toughest challenge yet (she’ll be marketed that way, in any case). Are all the incredibly awkward interviews worth this, Cat? GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN.

We now go live to our gambling expert, Stephan Bonnar, for analysis…

Well put, Stephan. Well put.

–J. Jones