Rose Namajunas is currently the betting favorite going into her rematch with Jessica Andrade.
The two former women’s strawweight champions will collide for a second time when they meet on the main card of UFC 251 which takes place July 11 on Abu Dhabi’s Fight Island.
And as it stands, many oddsmakers have Namajunas as the favorite with 5Dimes giving her -200 odds while Andrade is a +170 underdog.
That means you would have to bet $200 to make a $100 profit on a Namajunas win while a $100 stake on victory for Andrade would earn you an additional $170.
Namajunas With Surprising Odds?
These odds may come as a surprise to some.
After all, Andrade became the women’s strawweight champion after knocking Namajunas out with a slam in the second round of their title fight in the UFC 237 headliner in May last year. “Thug” notably opened and closed that first fight as the betting underdog despite being the champion and defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk a second time in a row a year earlier.
It’s possible that oddsmakers remain confident in the chances of Namajunas given her overall performance against Andrade in the first fight. The former champion was piecing up the Brazilian for majority of the first round before getting slammed in the second round. She will undoubtedly look to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Although Namajunas hasn’t competed since, Andrade hasn’t competed since August when she suffered a one-sided first-round TKO defeat to current champion Weili Zhang. Perhaps that also played a role?
UFC 251 will feature three championship fights including a welterweight title bout between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns; a featherweight title rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway; and Petr Yan and Jose Aldo colliding for the vacant bantamweight strap.
