Max Holloway will be looking to win consecutive fights for the first time in three years when he takes on fellow featherweight Yair Rodriguez on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 197 as a heavy -700 favourite on the UFC odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Holloway is coming off a five-round unanimous decision victory over Calvin Kattar earlier this year at UFC Fight Island 7 that marked just his second win in five outings going into Saturday's fight at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Holloway's recent woes began with a failed bid to claim the interim lightweight crown at UFC 236, where he dropped a five-round unanimous decision to Dustin Poirier that earned him the third of his four career Fight of the Night bonuses. Holloway followed by defending his featherweight title with a unanimous decision win over Frankie Edgar at UFC 236, but subsequently lost the belt to Alexander Volkanovski in the first of two straight losses to the reigning champion.
The 29-year-old Hawaiian's run of five straight fights getting settled by the judges is the longest of his career. However, Holloway has consistently demonstrated his punching power with 10 of his 22 career wins coming by knockout, including four straight TKO victories prior to his recent swoon.
Rodriguez is set to make his return to the octagon for the first time in over two years lagging as a +450 underdog at betting sites. Rodriguez last saw action in October 2019, when he survived to claim a three-round unanimous decision win over Jeremy Stephens. That fight came just weeks after their first meeting, which ended as a no-contest after Stephens came out on the wrong end of an accidental eye poke.
Overall, the 29-year-old Mexican has stepped into the octagon just three times since May 2017, a run that also features a KO win over Chan Sung Jung at UFC Fight Night 139 that earned him both Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night bonuses.
Elsewhere on the UFC Fight Night odds for this weekend, Marcos Rogério de Lima looks to record consecutive wins for the first time in 11 fights since December 2014 as he battles fellow heavyweight Ben Rothwell as a +130 underdog. Lima is coming of just his third career win by decision after topping Maurice Greene at UFC Vegas 26, while Rothwell vies for his fourth win in five outings as -155 chalk. As well, Felicia Spencer is listed as a -310 favourite as she takes on Leah Letson (+240) in a battle of women's strawweights.
