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When Conor McGregor accepted a fight against Anderson Silva on Twitter this morning, he had to like his chances to defeat the 45-year-old Brazilian legend.
Turns out the bookmakers like his chances as well.
Johnny Avello, Director of Race and Sports operations at DraftKings Sportsbook, says he’d make Silva a 7-1 underdog, while you’d need to bet $10 on McGregor to get back $11.
Theoretical Odds for Conor McGregor vs. Anderson Silva:
Conor McGregor -1000
Anderson Silva +700
“I don’t see this as a competitive fight unless McGregor wants to make it so,” says Avello. “The catchweight 176 pounds may help Silva and I do respect his body of work but he’s 45 years old, loser of six of last eight and hasn’t fought in over a year. McGregor 22-4 (19 KO’s) is still relevant and a handful. I could make this price higher but would expect Silva money because of the big plus.”
It looks like the only thing keeping that Silva price in line is the action of legions of his fans across the world, but “Spider” has won only once in the octagon since 2012. His victory over Nick Diaz was later thrown out due to testing positive for PED’s, and he needed all 15 minutes and the judges to defeat Derek Brunson on the scorecards in February of 2017. He’s lost both fights since.
Meanwhile McGregor is 10-2 lifetime in UFC, and has won three of his last four fights. He’s also 14 years younger. This might be a fun matchup for fans, but the oddsmakers don’t believe it would be competitive once they get in the ring.
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