Odds! Stipe Miocic opens as big favorite over JDS ahead of title rematch

After several previous reports, the UFC has officially announced that heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic will next defend his title against Junior Dos Santos. The pair will duke it out in the main event of UFC 211, which is scheduled for May 13 in Dallas, Texas.

Miocic and Dos Santos, of course, are quite familiar with each other. In December of 2014, the two dangerous heavyweights collided in an unforgettable five-round war, which Dos Santos ultimately won by decision.

Despite the fact that Dos Santos won this first contest with Miocic, he will enter this rematch as a sizeable betting underdog.

On Tuesday night, Independent odds consultant Jesse Oddessa released the early odds for this fight (via MMAJunkie.com). These odds identify Miocic as a -205 favorite, and Dos Santos as a +167 underdog. This means that a successful bet of $205 on Miocic would earn you $100. A successful $100 bet on Dos Santos, meanwhile, would earn you $167.

These odds are quite different from the odds for Miocic and Dos Santos’ first fight, which Dos Santos entered as a near 5-1 favorite.

When we last saw Miocic in action, he delivered a first-round knockout of Alistair Overeem to defend the UFC heavyweight title. Prior to that, he scored a first-round knockout over Fabricio Werdum to win that heavyweight title. His two most recent wins before that saw him level Andrei Arlovski in the first round, and stop Mark Hunt in the fifth after four lopsided rounds. This win over Hunt followed his decision loss to Dos Santos. Miocic’s overall record currently sits at 16-2.

Dos Santos, meanwhile, is currently 18-4 in sum. It has now been almost a year since we’ve seen him in the Octagon. When he last stepped foot in the cage, he scored a lopsided decision win over streaking heavyweight contender Ben Rothwell. Prior to that, he was knocked out by Alistair Overeem. His most recent win before that, finally, was his defeat of Miocic.

Do you think these odds are fair? How do you think this Stipe Miocic vs. Junior Dos Santos rematch goes? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/8/2017.