I can understand when a challenger is the underdog. I can’t understand when the champion is an underdog, especially when they knocked out the challenger in their first fight.
Current UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas cannot seem to get any respect from odds makers. She knocked out former champion Zhang Weili spectacularly in their first fight. Somehow, the odds makers don’t think that was impressive enough to change their minds.
The odds for their first go around were:
Rose Namajunas (challenger): +180
Zhang Weili (champion): -210
Those odds are understandable given how good Weili looked in her previous outings leading up to the first fight with Rose. She was finished by Namajunas making Rose Namajunas a two time champ. The rematch realistically should have those odds reversed. Right? Wrong. Here are the odds as they sit now:
Rose Namajunas (champion): +105
Zhang Weili (challenger): -125
I will admit that I don’t fully understand how fight odds are made but I do understand logic. What do you think of these odds?
(odds via ESPN)