UFC 274 Betting Preview

If you haven’t typed it out, all bold and caps, into your calendar, then breathe a sigh of relief. And another. It’s May 7th at 6:00 PM. It’s UFC 274. The upcoming fight card will take place at Frontprint Center in sunny Phoenix, Arizona, and avid followers are in for another treat, direct from the octagon: multiple come-back fights, an all-too-rare female contest, and one final bout between two veteran fighters.

For the headliner, Charles Oliveira will challenge Justin Gaethje for the belt in the lightweight division. Another lightweight bout will go down between former interim champion Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler as both attempt to put a halt to a losing skid.

Rose Namajunas is looking to take back her glory in a rematch against Carla Esparza, and Mauricio Rua will look to do the same when facing Ovince Saint Preux for the first time in eight years.

If we’ve caught you just in time to cancel your plans on the 7th, then relax and roll with the punches, because UFC 274 betting at Bodog is officially in business.

Let’s dissect the Saturday night showdown.

Charles Oliveira v Justin Gaethje

The UFC lightweight division is about to crown a new UFC king, and Charles Oliveira will enter the Octagon to battle top-ranked Justin Gaethje for those honours in the main event.

Brazilian Oliviera is the current lightweight title holder after defeating Dustin Poirier at UFC 269, and this is his first time in the ring since then. The sauvely-nicknamed “Do Bronx” is on a 10-win kill streak. The last fight he lost was in 2017 against Paul Felder, and that’s saying a lot considering that Oliveira wasn’t much to celebrate in his featherweight years of 2012-2017.

Justin Gaethje won’t go down easy… at least, not if his mentor has anything to do with it. Behind the scenes, the former Interim UFC Lightweight Champion has been training under the purview of champion wrestler and striker, Kamaru Usman. We’ve already seen that Usman has lifted Gaethje’s performance; and at his most dangerous, he flaunts his tendency to stalk opponents while landing damaging strikes. They do call him The Highlight, after all.

Whether Gaethje’s striking ability will be enough to outclass favourite Oliveira (-185) and his jiu-jitsu black belt is yet to be seen, but with Bodog betting odds of +150, he takes the underdog status in this highlight of fight night.

Rose Namajunas v Carla Esparza

In the female-run co-main event, “Thug Rose” Namajunas meets Carla Esparza once again in a fight for the 115 pound strawweight belt.

These two go way back. In fact, the elite fighters met back in 2014 when Thug Rose lost her belt to Esparza via submission in the third round. Thug Rose may have kissed her belt goodbye seven years ago, but she certainly hasn’t struggled to bounce back since then. She’s won each of her past three fights, including two against Zhang Weili, despite the declarations of the talking heads who swore up and down that it was impossible.

Rose’s hand shines when it’s engaged in striking, and Esparza does most of her dirty work on the ground, which we saw when she landed 5 of 7 takedowns against Rose in 2014.

Esparza is also entering the Octagon on a high, having won five fights before this one, and she hasn’t lost a match since 2018.

As long as Thug Rose can stay off the ground, Bodog gives her odds of -220 to reclaim her belt from Esparza (+172).

Michael Chandler v Tony Ferguson

There’s another lightweight fight in town, and this time it’s with Michael Chandler facing off with former interim UFC Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson.

Both fighters are coming into the Octagon fresh off a losing skid. Chandler lost two matches just before this one, including one to Justin Gaothje, and Ferguson lost three.

Michael “The Iron” Chandler packs a mean punch into his right hand, which could prove to be fatal for Ferguson, who lacks a little in the boxing department. That said, Ferguson’s black belt in jiu-jitsu (that makes for two in this lineup) is a distinct advantage, with the chops to easily wrangle his opponents under a mean submission, which is exactly how Ferguson won 8 out of his 25 career wins.

Even so, Bodog odds suggest that Ferguson’s black belt might not be enough to overtake Chandler who is the heavy favourite at -400, while Ferguson’s sits at +300.

Mauricio Rua v Ovince Saint Preux

Light heavyweight fighters Mauricio Rua and Ovince Saint Preux will meet for a rematch after nearly eight years. The first match between the two was at UFC Fight Night 56 in November of 2014, and Rua was rapidly put in his place on his own turf of Brazil when Saint Preux knocked him out in the first 34 seconds of the bout.

Ever since that premature evacuation, Rua has gone 5-2-1 in his last eight appearances, although he hasn’t seen the inside of a ring on the professional stage since he lost to Paul Craig in 2020.

Saint Preux will enter this fight off the back of two previous losses, including TKO losses to Tanner Boser and Jamahal Hill.

Bodog odds are -250 that Saint Preux can pull off another win against +195 Rua, but eight years is an awfully long time for Rua to prepare for his comeback.

Donald Cerrone v Joe Lauzon

Veteran fighters Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon have something significant in common as they head into UFC 274; each will be primed to give this bout their all, since they’re both retiring from the UFC when they exit the ring. Only one will go out with a shout instead of a whimper, but there’s enough fire in their respective bellies to make it one to remember.

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has racked up seven fights in just one year from 2019 to 2020, losing to Ferguson, Gaethje, and McGregor during that run. He may be in luck for this fight, because Lauzon isn’t nearly the calibre of fighter of those three, and Cowboy has a strong striking output with 4.43 landing per minute to Lauzon’s 2.84.

Both are desperate for their final win, and Bodog odds are relatively close with Cerrone as the -175 favourite and Lauzon at +142.

UFC 274 betting odds are up, the bet slips are open, and the event is close enough to smell the sweat. Which fighter will reign supreme as King or Queen of the Octagon? Whisper it to your bet slips, but time is fast running out! Bodog betting waits for no one.