Alex Pereira opens up as betting underdog in light heayweight debut against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291

Alex Pereira has opened as the underdog for his upcoming fight against Jan Blachowicz.

In the co-main event of UFC 291 on July 29 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Pereira is set to make his light heavyweight debut against former champ, Jan Blachowicz. It’s a tough test right away for Pereira who is coming off a KO loss to Israel Adesanya back in April to lose his middleweight title.

After the loss, Pereira said he would be moving up and it was uncertain who he would fight in his debut. But, the UFC threw him right into the deep end, and with that, the oddsmakers opened him as the underdog for his UFC 291 fight.

UFC 291 Odds:

Jan Blachowicz -125
Alex Pereira +105

With Blachowicz being a -125 favorite, you would need to bet $125 to win $100 if you think the Pole gets his hand raised on July 29. But, if you like Pereira to get his and raised, a $100 bet would net you $105 if the Brazilian can pull off the upset.

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Although Alex Pereira is the betting underdog, when the fight was announced, he admitted this would be a tough matchup for him.

“He is a dangerous guy, an experienced guy… Everybody knows Blachowicz is a dangerous guy, an all-rounder, but I think it’s a good first fight for me. When I say my first fight, some people will think, oh, then it’s an easy opponent. No. All of you know my story. I was middleweight champ. So, for sure, they wanted to give me one of the top 5 ranked,” Pereira said on his YouTube channel.

Alex Pereira (7-2) is coming off the KO loss to Israel Adesnaya at UFC 287 to lose his middleweight title. Prior to that, he scored a fifth-round TKO win over Adesanya to win the middleweight title in just his fourth UFC fight. His other three wins in the UFC came against Sean Strickland by KO, Bruno Silva by decision, and Andreas Michailidis by KO.

Do you think Alex Pereira will beat Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291?