Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera betting odds released for UFC 252

The opening betting odds have been released for the UFC 252 main card, including the odds for the bantamweight fight between Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera.

The UFC officially announced the main card for UFC 252 during the UFC 251 broadcast. The promotion’s next pay-per-view event takes place on August 15 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event of the evening features the trilogy fight between UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and rival Daniel Cormier. The odds for that bout were previously revealed last fall, with that fight opening as a Pick ’em.

Also on the UFC 252 main card is a heavyweight bout between Junior dos Santos and Jairzinho Rozenstruik, a bantamweight bout between Pedro Munhoz and Frankie Edgar, a light heavyweight bout between Magomed Ankalaev and Ion Cutelaba, and the intriguing bantamweight bout between rising contenders O’Malley and Vera.

Ahead of the card, the oddsmakers have opened up the odds for the rest of the main card, including the fight between O’Malley and Vera. Check out the opening odds for the bout via BestFightOdds.

UFC 252: Miocic vs. Cormier 3: Marlon Vera (+180) vs. Sean O'Malley (-230) https://t.co/8i6Od2wtfX #ufc252

— BestFightOdds (@BestFightOdds) July 14, 2020

UFC 252 Odds

Sean O’Malley -230
Marlon Vera +180

O’Malley opened as a -230 betting favorite. That means you would need to bet $230 to win $100. Vera opened as a +180 betting underdog. That means you would have to bet $100 to win $180.

At first glance, these odds seem rather low on O’Malley, who closed as a -700 favorite in his last fight over Eddie Wineland and a -400 favorite for his fight against Jose Quinonez. O’Malley is one of the most popular fighters in the sport right now and after picking up back-to-back knockout wins over Wineland and Quinonez, it seemed like he would have opened up a huge favorite here over Vera, but that’s not the case.

Clearly, the oddsmakers respect Vera, who is coming off of a controversial unanimous decision loss to Song Yadong in his last fight. Though Vera lost that fight according to the judges, the UFC matchmakers are treating it as a win as they matched him up against O’Malley here. Vera saw a five-fight win streak snapped by the loss to Yadong, while O’Malley is a perfect 12-0 in his MMA career.

This is certainly going to be an interesting fight between two of the top-15 bantamweights in the UFC, and the winner of the O’Malley vs. Vera fight seems destined for a big step up in competition.

Who is your money on at UFC 252, Sean O’Malley or Marlon Vera?