Odds: Stephen Thompson Opens as Favorite Over Champ Tyron Woodley

When Stephen Thompson extended his win-streak to seven with a June win over Rory MacDonald, he seemed like a shoo-in for a shot at the winner of Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley’s July welterweight title fight. When Woodley stole Lawler’s title with a blistering, first-round KO, however, Thompson’s future became far less clear.

Immediately after the win, Woodley began expressing his interest in welterweight “money fights” with superstars like Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz. At the same time, he expressed a complete disinterest in Thompson being his first title challenger. Even when the ever-courteous Thompson tried his hand at trash-talk, saying Woodley seemed “scared,” the champ wouldn’t budge.

Luckily, however, the UFC finally did what was right and slammed down the hammer. Woodley is now scheduled to defend his title against Thompson, the bona fide number-one-contender at welterweight, at UFC 205 on November 12.

Now that this fight is official, its early betting odds have been announced – and Woodley is unlikely to be happy with them. Despite his status as the defending champ, he’s been pegged as the bout’s underdog.

According to MMAOddsBreaker.com, the champion is currently sitting at +120, while the challenger is pegged as a -150 favorite. This means that a successful $100 bet on Woodley would earn you $120, while it would take a successful bet of $150 on Thompson to earn $100.

While this can probably be attributed to Thompson’s incredible and unique skill set, it probably also has something to do with Woodley’s long-time reluctance to take the fight. Though there is no question that he is as tough as they come, his hesitance to accept this fight really did start to look like a lack of confidence. The oddsmakers probably took note of this.

That said, odds are really just numbers. Though Woodley has been identified as the dog, he could very well surprise with an upset at UFC 205. A Thompson win is far from a sure thing.

Who do you think comes out on top in our next UFC welterweight title fight? Sound off, PENN nation!