When we found out we were going to see UFC flyweight champ take on bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw at this Saturday’s UFC Brooklyn event on ESPN+ we were excited. Then we heard that TJ would be the one dropping down instead of the traditional idea of a fighter moving up.
McGregor moved up to fight Alvarez, Penn moved up to fight Hughes, GSP to fight Bisping, Nunes to face Cyborg, and so on. When this happens the lighter of the two champions is usually the underdog so it would seem natural to think someone coming down to invade another division would have the odds against him for a number of reasons.
WRONG.
Dillashaw is the favorite on every major betting site we could find. Here are three of the biggest sites as examples…
BOVADA
Dillashaw -205
Cejudo +165
SPORTSBOOK
Dillashaw -215
Cejudo -175
PINNACLE
Dillashaw -200
Cejudo +176
As you can see we were wrong and Henry is getting no love despite Dillashaw looking depleted ahead of the fight and the question of how much strength and speed he is giving up by cutting all of that weight needs to be answered. Alternate realities exist. We keep saying it.
What do you think of those odds?