UFC 266 Volkanovski vs Ortega Odds and Prediction

Fight fans everywhere are eagerly anticipating this Saturday's UFC 266 card. The highlight of the night is the featherweight title bout between Alexander Volkanovski, the champion, facing off against the top challenger, Brian Ortega, in the night's main event.

At Sportsbettingcanada.org, we can't wait to see this fight either. It will take place in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena. The fight has been anticipated for more than a year now, but was postponed a few times due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, though, the bout is finally on, and the two featherweight fighters are set to enter the Octagon and battle it out. Who's going to win? And what are the odds for the upcoming main event?

Let's take a more in-depth look at the UFC 266 fight.

The Odds

The first thing to look at when you're breaking down the UFC 266 fight between Volkanovski and Ortega are the sportsbook odds.

Right now, Volkanovski is listed as the favorite, with betting odds of -155. This means that you would need to risk $155 in order to win $100 if you'd like to bet on the champion.

On the other side of the title fight, Ortega finds himself as the underdog, with odds of +135. This means that if you wager $100 on Ortega and he wins the bout, you would win $135.

What these odds tell us is that the fight is anticipated to be fairly close. With the title holder being "only" a -155 favorite, it means that sportsbooks anticipate the fight to be fairly close. In other words, it could go either way.

This is a really great thing for fight fans, as they can anticipate a closely-fought main event, rather than one in which one fighter is heavily favored over the other.

Predictions for the Main Event

It's very hard to pick against the champion, Volkanovski. He's 22-1 in his MMA career, although he doesn't seem to get as much respect in the MMA world as some of the other top fighters do.

In his career, Volkanovski has defeated Max Holloway, the former champion in the division, twice. He also has defeated Jose Aldo, who at one point held the title as well.

Volkanovski is a rather quiet fighter out of the ring, which is part of the reason he probably doesn't get as much attention as some other fighters. At 32 years old, the Australian only has one loss in his career, and it didn't come in the UFC. In fact, his last loss came an astounding eight years ago while he was fighting in Australia.

As for Ortega, the 30-year-old is no slouch either. He specializes in submissions and is one of the best grapplers in the UFC today.

For his career, Ortega is 15-1-1. He started off at 15-0 before facing off against Holloway in a shot at the title two years ago. He was thoroughly dominated in that bout, though.

One of the biggest concerns for Ortega coming into this fight is not his talent or whether he can rise to the occasion in a big moment. It's whether he'll be rusty after having not fought for almost two years. He hasn't been in the Octagon for that long because of injuries, and that could be a huge issue for him.

Ultimately, our pick is for Volkanovski to end up victorious at the end of the night. Is it worth laying -155 odds to bet on him? That's really up to whether you believe he's unlikely to lose at all.

At +135, though, Ortega makes for a pretty interesting underdog bet. This is especially true because he's so good at submissions. If he gets the champion in one compromising position, he could end the fight quickly.

Other Fights on the Card

The co-main event of UFC 266 is in the women's division. Valentina Shevchenko, the flyweight champion, is taking on Lauren Murphy.

The champion is a huge -1600 favorite. This means you'd have to wager $1,600 just to win $100. Murphy, meanwhile is a +900 underdog. A $100 wager on her would net you $900 if she pulled off the upset.

Is it worth betting this fight at all? Many experienced UFC bettors will simply stay away from Shevchenko altogether in this one, as the odds are simply too great to risk that much money -- even if she is a near lock to win.

The +900 odds may look enticing to those who are hoping for a longshot and big payout. While it may not be wise to wager big money on Murphy, placing a small wager and hoping for a shocker isn't the worst idea in the world.