Alex Pereira might not be a true heavyweight, at least that’s what oddsmakers believe.
On Saturday night, during the UFC 332 broadcast, Dana White and the UFC announced the top three fights for UFC 335, which goes down on Dec. 12 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In the main event, Charles Oliveira defends his BMF title against Diego Lopes, while the co-main event features a five-round heavyweight fight between Pereira and Sergei Pavlovich.
On Saturday, BetOnline.Ag released its opening odds for the event, with Pavlovich installed as a small favorite over Poatan.
Sergei Pavlovich -130
Alex Pereira +111
These odds imply that Pavlovich has a 56.5 percent chance to beat Pereira, who lost his UFC heavyweight debut to Ciryl Gane at UFC White House. But since the opening odds, public money has come in on Pavlovich, dropping him to a -164 favorite, implying a 62 percent win probability.
BetOnline also released odds for the main event, installing Charles Oliveira as a modest favorite over Diego Lopes.
Charles Oliveira -172
Diego Lopes +146
Oliveira is coming off his BMF title-winning performance over Max Holloway at UFC 326 and is currently riding a two-fight winning streak. Lopes, meanwhile, knocked out Steve Garcia at UFC White House and is now making his lightweight debut. Since opening, Oliveira has been bet down to only a -148 favorite, with Lopes coming in at +126.
The third fight announced for UFC 335 is a middleweight bout between rising prospects Joe Pyfer and Bo Nickal, with BetOnline installing Pyfer as a small favorite over the former NCAA champion, in a line that has not moved much since opening.
Joe Pyfer -130
Bo Nickal +111
Pyfer is currently on a four-fight winning streak and coming off the biggest win of his career, a knockout over former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in March. Nickal, meanwhile, is on a two-fight winning streak, most recently stopping Kyle Daukaus at UFC White House in June.
