Dustin Poirier will be looking to extend his unbeaten streak in the octagon to five fights when he takes on Eddie Alvarez on Saturday in the UFC Fight Night main event as a -165 betting favourite on the UFC odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The 29-year-old is coming off a fourth-round TKO victory over Justin Gaethje as a -120 bet in his last outing in the main event at UFC on Fox 29 back in mid-April, and has now finished opponents on 18 occasions while amassing the 23-5 professional MMA record he takes into Saturday night’s Alvarez versus Poirier UFC matchup at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
Poirier previously battled Alvarez at UFC 211 as -130 chalk in a clash that ended in a no-contest after Alvarez landed knees to the head of the native of Lafayette, La., while he was a downed opponent. However, Poirier has been dominant in the three victories during his current unbeaten run, claiming Fight of the Night honours in each of those contests.
Pegged as a +140 underdog in Saturday’s fight, Alvarez also faced Gaethje in his last octagon appearance, earning a Fight of the Night bonus while paying out on +150 odds with a third-round TKO at UFC 218.
“The Underground King” dropped a unanimous decision to Donald Cerrone as a +120 underdog in his promotional debut at UFC 178, but rebounded with three straight wins, capped by a first-round knockout of Rafael dos Anjos that earned him the UFC lightweight championship.
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However, his reign proved to be brief. Alvarez fell to Conor McGregor as a +160 underdog in his first title defence at UFC 2015, and has posted just one win in his past three outings.
Earlier in the evening, Jose Aldo looks to rebound after suffering consecutive TKO losses to Max Holloway that denied him the chance to reclaim his long-held UFC featherweight title, as he takes on Jeremy Stephens as a slim -130 favourite.
Aldo first rose to the top of the featherweight division almost nine years ago while fighting in the WEC and was immediately promoted to UFC lightweight champion when he joined the promotion in 2011. He successfully defended on seven occasions before his stunning loss to McGregor just 13 seconds into their matchup at UFC 194.
Stephens takes on Aldo as a +110 underdog, and has earned bonuses in each of his outings on his current three-fight win streak.
Elsewhere on the UFC Fight Night odds for this weekend, Joanna Jedrzejczyk is perched as -300 chalk in her women’s strawweight tilt with Tecia Torres, while Montreal’s Olivier Aubin-Mercier takes on Alexander Hernandez as a -150 favourite in a clash of lightweights.
