UFC 273 betting odds for Aljamain Sterling vs. Petr Yan
Petr Yan, left, and Aljamain Sterling face off during the UFC 259 weigh-in at UFC APEX on March 5, 2021, in Las Vegas. Credit: Zuffa LLC/Handout
The people walking out to the octagon with Petr Yan and standing in his corner for his title fight against Aljamain Sterling remain a mystery to the public as the Russian's usual group of cornermen were denied entry to the United States.
But one group of people clearly in the corner of Yan going into UFC 273 this Saturday are the oddsmakers.
Yan, the interim bantamweight champion, is listed in the neighborhood of -475 in various online sportsbooks. The Uniondale-raised Sterling, the reigning UFC bantamweight champion, is the betting underdog around +350 on Monday. Sterling is the second biggest underdog on the card as of Monday, behind "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung at around +500 as he challenges featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski for the title.
The oddsmakers’ confidence in Yan didn’t seem to bother Sterling (20-3).
“I never look at the odds for my fights," Sterling said.
Yan (16-2) sounded unaffected by the big line and believes he knows why the odds are the way they are.
"I think that the bet-makers work to make the odds, I believe they come in with this based on the first fight," Yan said.
Sterling outpaced Yan in the first rounds, strikes-wise, but the flow of the fight flipped to Yan in rounds three and four, a stat that likely contributed to the opening odds.
After three rounds, Yan was ahead on two judges' scorecards and was on his way toward winning the fourth round before he threw an illegal knee that resulted in a disqualification and the awarding of Yan's title to Sterling.
How much the line moves, if any, this week will depend on where the betting public puts its money. Come fight night in Jacksonville, Florida, with a line that high, Sterling should remain a sizable underdog at the betting window, kiosk and smart device. That sits just fine with him.
"I've heard people saying I'm a big underdog in this one," Sterling said. "There’s going to be a lot of people making a lot of money."
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
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