Headlining throughout Worldwide Combat Week for the second time in his gold-laden Octagon tenure, Alexander Volkanovski is as soon as once more closing as a heavy betting favourite to retain his standing as king of the featherweights, forward of his UFC 290 major occasion slot in opposition to interim gold holder, Yair Rodríguez.
Volkanovski, a featherweight champion as well, noticed his promotional-perfect tenure come to an finish at UFC 284 again in February, suffering a unanimous decision loss to lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev in Perth, Australia.
Earlier on that very same card, Mexican placing ace, Rodríguez landed the interim featherweight championship win – stopping current UFC Jacksonville major occasion characteristic, Josh Emmett with a powerful second spherical triangle choke submission victory.
To date boasting an ideal run on the featherweight restrict since starting his Octagon tenure, Volkanovski – who searches for his fifth profitable title protection this weekend, is fast closing as a -400 betting favorite over on BetWay to defeat the +300 betting underdog, Rodríguez on the T-Cellular Area.
In 4 prior profitable title defenses at 145 kilos, New South Wales native, Volkanovski has turned in subsequent rematch and trilogy bout title wins in opposition to former champion, Max Holloway – in addition to toppling each common-foes, Brian Ortega, and in somewhat dominant trend – Chan Sung Jung throughout his time as undisputed gold holder.
Additionally that includes on the star-studded pay-per-view major card, undisputed flyweight champion, Brandon Moreno is slated to aim his first title protection since unifying the crowns in opposition to Deivson Figueiredo again in January on enemy territory at UFC 283 in Brazil.
Nevertheless, the Tijuana native faces a steep problem, trying to avenge each exhibition {and professional} losses to the surging Brazilian contender, Alexandre Pantoja.
Efficiently unifying flyweight spoils in Rio de Janeiro firstly of the yr, Moreno had suffered a submission off loss to Pantoja on The Final Fighter – earlier than then discovering himself on the receiving finish of a unanimous determination loss in a UFC Combat Night time Chile assembly.
And regardless of struggling a pair of prior losses to Pantoja, Moreno is closing quickly as a powerful -200 betting favourite to defeat the previous and emerge from ‘Sin Metropolis’ with championship spoils in tow. Within the midst of a powerful run, Pantoja is presently sitting as a +160 betting underdog.
One other vital conflict takes place on the principle card as well, with former undisputed middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker returning in an formally billed title eliminator in opposition to promotional-perfect South African contender, Dricus du Plessis.
With the victor anticipated to tackle champion, Israel Adesanya with a victory, ex-titleholder, Whittaker is closing as a -400 betting favourite to defeat du Plessis – with the latter coming in as a +300 betting underdog to defeat Whittaker at UFC 290.
Closing as the most important betting favourite within the historical past of the UFC, uber-prospect, Bo Nickal has obtained a shake-up in opponent forward of the principle card outing – with Val Woodburn changing TUF veteran, Treasan Gore.
Grappling ace, Nickal will be backed as excessive as a whopping -2,200 to defeat promotional newcomer Woodburn at UFC 290 this weekend, with the latter closing as a +1,200 betting underdog.
