We should start by saying that opening odds in Las Vegas very rarely remain the same up until fight night.
But given the latest trends, one wouldn’t have been surprised to have seen Conor McGregor open up as betting favourite over Rafael dos Anjos for their rumoured lightweight title fight at UFC 197.
The Irishman started as favourite over both Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo when those markets became available in Sin City and, despite closing as slight underdog against Aldo, he backed his early favouritism with a pair of knockout victories in 2015.
But lightweight champion Dos Anjos has bucked the trend, opening up as 4/5 favourite over the ‘The Notorious’ according to BestFightOdds.com.
At time of writing, McGregor was 6/5 to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two different titles simultaneously – but we expect that gap to narrow when his hardcore fanbase start lumping money on their favourite son.
