A top-5 Bantamweight banger goes down in the main event of this weekend's UFC card between Marlon 'Chito' Vera and Cory Sandhagen. Let's examine the odds for the bout:
Odds provided by BetOnline.ag as of March 22, 3:35 PM EST.
Marlon Vera +156, Cory Sandhagen -181.
Despite being 3-3 in his last six, Cory Sandhagen has come back as a respectable favorite. His last three wins were all finishes, with a doctor's stoppage over Song Yadong, a flying knee knockout of Frankie Edgar in record time, and a spinning kick KO of Marlon Moraes. His losses were only to the best of the best. He dropped a split decision to TJ Dillashaw, a close UD against Petr Yan, and a submission loss to Aljamain Sterling- all former or current UFC champions.
Marlon Vera's accrued some incredible stats in his last 3 fights. He's scored 7 knockdowns in his last three fights, and won a decision at the biggest significant strike deficit in UFC history against Rob Font. Font landed over 100 more strikes than Vera, at 271 compared to 159, but the damage of Chito's strikes was simply too heavy. Vera holds the record for most finishes in UFC Bantamweight history, with 11, and has never been knocked down in 20 UFC fights. He became the first person to defeat 'Sugar' Sean O'Malley, knocking him out inside of a round at UFC 252 in 2020.
Let's take a look at their previous betting odds:
Odds via fightodds.io
Marlon Vera (-210) vs. Dominick Cruz (+190) UFC Fight Night: Vera vs. Cruz - Win (KO)
Marlon Vera(+100) vs. Rob Font (-110) UFC Fight Night: Font vs. Vera - Win (Dec)
Marlon Vera (-140) vs. Frankie Edgar (+130) UFC 268 - Win (KO)
Marlon Vera (-200) vs. Davey Grant (+185) UFC Fight Night: Zombie vs. Ige - Win (Dec)
Marlon Vera (+135) vs. Jose Aldo (-145) UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal - Loss (Dec)
Odds via fightodds.io
Cory Sandhagen (-185) vs. Song Yadong (+170) UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Song - Win (TKO)
Cory Sandhagen (+210) vs. Petr Yan (-250) UFC 267 - Loss (Dec)
Cory Sandhagen (-200) vs. TJ Dillashaw (+185) - UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw - Loss (Dec)
Cory Sandhagen (-325) vs. Frankie Edgar (+295) UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov - Win (KO)
Cory Sandhagen (-132) vs. Marlon Moraes (+122) UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Sandhagen - Win (KO)