Despite being the newly crowned UFC lightweight champion, oddsmakers think Charles Oliveira should be the betting underdog in a potential matchup against Dustin Poirier or Conor McGregor.
After finishing Michael Chandler by a thrilling round 2 TKO at UFC 262 this past weekend, Oliveira finally became the champion after fighting in the UFC for 11 years and competing professionally in MMA since 2008. Many have pointed out the evolution in his skillset over the years in his UFC tenure, which has made Oliveira the complete fighter he is today. Oliveira is now on a nine-fight winning streak and has the record for the most finishes in UFC history.
Despite this, if a fight against Poirier or McGregor was to materialize, Oliveira would be a betting underdog according to Betonline.ag. At this current time, Oliveira is a +155 for a matchup with Poirier and +145 for McGregor; Poirier is a near 2-to-1 favorite at -180, while McGregor is a -165 favorite.
Poirier and McGregor are set to face off at UFC 264 in July for their trilogy bout. The winner of this fight is expected to face the champion in Oliveira. Although Oliveira has an impressive accolade of wins, finishes, and performance bonuses, he still lacks the mainstream popularity compared to Poirier and especially McGregor.
Poirier is a former interim lightweight champion and holds wins over many former champions such as Max Holloway, Eddie Alvarez, Justin Gaethje and McGregor. Conor McGregor is the former two-weight world champion in both the featherweight and lightweight division defeating the likes of Holloway, Poirier, Jose Aldo, Nate Diaz, and Alvarez. Easily the biggest superstar from the sport of MMA, he was recently named as the highest-paid sport athlete on the Forbes list.
Do you think Oliveira should be the betting underdog against either McGregor or Poirier?
