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Current featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski is all set to lock horns with Yair Rodriguez for a title unification bout at UFC 290. The event will take place during International Fight Week on July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Volkanovski was last seen in action at UFC 284 when he tried to gain champ-champ status by fighting lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. 'The Great' came up short that night and ended up losing the contest via unanimous decision.
Rodriguez also competed on the UFC 284 card and went toe-to-toe against Josh Emmett for the interim title in the co-main event. 'El Pantera' emerged victorious that night as he submitted Emmett via triangle choke in the second round.
The UFC odds by Parimatch have Volkanovski as the favorite for the headlining title fight.
Volkanovski to score a victory - 2/9
Rodriguez to score a victory - 10/3
The UFC 290 co-main event will feature another title fight as Brandon Moreno will defend his flyweight throne against Alexandre Pantoja.
Moreno is coming off two back-to-back finishes against Kai Kara-France and Deiveson Figueiredo. Pantoja, on the other hand, is riding a three-fight win streak that includes victories over Manel Kape, Brandon Royval and Alex Perez.
The Parimatch bookmakers are favoring 'The Assassin Baby' to win the co-main event title fight.
Moreno to win - 8/15
Pantoja to win - 6/4
Stakes are high for the UFC 290 middleweight clash between Dricus du Plessis and Robert Whittaker as the winner could possibly go on to fight for UFC gold next.
Whittaker's last fight took place in September 2022, when he dominated Marvin Vettori for three rounds to score a comfortable unanimous decision victory. The South African, on the other hand, is currently 5-0 in the UFC and has defeated the likes of Derek Brunson and Darren Till.
Despite du Plessis' impressive run, the Parimatch UFC odds are favoring 'The Reaper' to pull off the victory on July 8.
Odds for Whittaker to win - 1/4
Odds for du Plessis to win - 3/1
These odds are accurate at the time of writing, to view the updated odds, visit: https://www.parimatch.co.uk/en-gb/sports/1327866
Jon Anik speaks on the UFC 290 odds for Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez
UFC commentator Jon Anik believes that Yair Rodriguez has a better chance of defeating Alexander Volkanovski than shown by the UFC odds.
Anik recently did an interview with MMA Junkie, during which he broke down fights from the upcoming UFC 290 card. Speaking about the main event, the UFC commentator said that the betting odds might not paint an accurate picture of Rodriguez ahead of the featherweight title fight against Volkanovski.
"I just feel like Rodriguez has a better chance than he is being given by the oddsmakers... Yair Rodriguez is one-of-one and a very uniquely hard guy to prepare for... I'm excited to see what Yair can do with the opportunity and you can be sure he has Volkanovski's attention. So, we'll see."
Check out Anik's comments from the 20:04 mark below:
