The two Brazilians who will be featured in the main and co-main events at UFC 212 on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro are favored to win in their home country according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.
Featherweight champion Jose Aldo (26-2) will look to unify belts with interim champ Max Holloway (17-3) as the -150 betting favorite (wager $150 to win $100) in the main event while women’s strawweight Claudia Gadelha (14-2) will try to move a step closer to another title shot versus Joanna Jedrzejczyk when she battles Karolina Kowalkiewicz (10-1) as the clear -350 chalk in the co-main event.
Aldo and Holloway both have one thing in common heading into their championship bout: They each suffered their last loss to Conor McGregor. Aldo rebounded to defeat Frankie Edgar for the second time to reclaim the belt at UFC 200 last July 9 after he got knocked out by McGregor in 13 seconds seven months earlier.
McGregor snapped Aldo’s 18-fight winning streak but has since gone on a leave from the UFC due to the birth of his son and in hopes of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing match.
Meanwhile, Holloway is listed as a +120 underdog (bet $100 to win $120) and has reeled off 10 consecutive wins since losing to McGregor via unanimous decision back on August 17, 2013. That was the second of back-to-back losses for Holloway, as he dropped a split decision to Dennis Bermudez in his previous bout.
Dustin Poirier is the third fighter who has beaten the 25-year-old Hawaiian, and that occurred in Holloway’s promotional debut as a 20-year-old at UFC 143.
For Gadelha, she is hoping to get a third matchup against Jedrzejczyk for the 115-pound title if she can get by Kowalkiewicz, who is a +265 underdog on the UFC 212 betting lines. Both women have only lost to Jedrzejczyk in their respective MMA careers, with Gadelha falling short twice by decision.
Gadelha bounced back from the second loss by earning a unanimous-decision win over Cortney Casey at UFC Fight Night 100 last November 19 in Sao Paulo.
Kowalkiewicz also lost to Jedrzejczyk via unanimous decision in her last fight at UFC 205 last November 12. She had beaten No. 3 contender Rose Namajunas in her previous bout by split decision and remains the second-ranked strawweight behind Gadelha and the champ.
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