Opening betting odds released for Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero at UFC 248

The opening betting odds have been released for the upcoming title fight between UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Yoel Romero at UFC 248.

The UFC made the long-rumored middleweight title bout official late on Thursday evening for UFC 248, which will take place March 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Adesanya vs. Romero will headline the pay-per-view event. The co-main event sees UFC women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang take on former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

The sportsbooks on Friday released the opening odds for Adesanya vs. Romero. Check them out, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com.

UFC 248: Israel Adesanya (-185) vs. Yoel Romero (+145) https://t.co/StzSvf72i7 @stylebender

— BestFightOdds (@BestFightOdds) January 17, 2020

UFC 248 Opening Odds

Israel Adesanya -185
Yoel Romero +145

Adesanya opened as a -185 betting favorite. That means you would have to bet $185 to win $100. Romero opened as a +145 betting underdog. That means you would have to bet $100 to win $145.

Adesanya (18-0) is a perfect 7-0 in the UFC since making his promotional debut at UFC 221 in February 2018. In the two years since then Adesanya has turned into a legitimate superstar in the world of mixed martial arts. In Adesanya’s last outing “The Last Stylebender” knocked out Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 to capture the middleweight strap. He was set to fight Paulo Costa, but with Costa injured the UFC decided to match Adesanya up against Romero instead.

Romero (13-4) is one of the most dangerous middleweights in the game. Though he’s 42, Romero is still widely respected as one of the top fighters in his division. He is coming off of back-to-back losses to Costa and Whittaker, but both fights were super close and despite the losses, the UFC still gave him a title shot. Romero’s last win came at UFC 221 on February 21, when he knocked out Luke Rockhold on the same card that Adesanya made his UFC debut on.

Who would you put your money on considering the opening odds for Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 1/17/2020.