UFC 221 final betting odds: Wagers on Rockhold push him further away from Romero

It’s fight day! Bloody Elbow is back to bring you the closing betting odds for UFC 221, as the former middleweight king Luke Rockhold (-170) has pulled away even further as the gambling favorite over Yoel Romero (+160), who suffered from weight cutting complications, making the main event a title fight only for Rockhold. The co-main event of the evening still has the UFC’s #9 heavyweight Curtis Blaydes (-165) favored over the crowd favorite Mark Hunt (+155).

The event’s heaviest betting favorite comes to us by way of Israel Adesanya (-300) who faces card-high underdog Rob Wilkinson (+270). If you caught our midweek betting odds post, then you saw heavyweight bout (-255) Tai Tuivasa vs. Cyril Asker (+235) was in 2nd place for widest odds of the night, but now that honor is awarded to light heavyweight tilt (-270) Tyson Pedro vs. Saparbek Safarov (+248).

There will be 2 pick’em bouts for the Perth crowd tonight, with the first being Ben Nguyen vs. Jussier Formiga. Formiga is the clear favorite at -118 and Nguyen is still clocking in on both sides of the line, from -116 up to +108. The other tight tilt of UFC 221, according to the odds, is Dong Hyun Kim vs. Damien Brown, with Kim strictly a favorite at -125 and Brown being found at both plus and minus odds, from -104 up to +120.

Tonight’s UFC 221 main card will air live on Pay-Per-View at 10:00 P.M. ET with the prelims starting at 8:00 P.M. ET on FS1. The Exclusive Fight Pass prelims will begin at 6:30 P.M. ET.

Check out the UFC 221 betting odds, courtesy of OddsShark.com:

Movement courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Luke Rockhold vs. Yoel Romero: Interim Middleweight Title

On the midweek betting odds, we witnessed a main event line flip, and because Romero has now missed weight, Rockhold’s trajectory has continued onward towards a larger minus line. When Rockhold’s betting line first opened up, he clocked in at +150, but after the hustle and bustle of fight week, he is now sitting at a stout -170. Romero went from his initial line of -190, to his now alluring dog tag of +160.

Suggestions:

Luke Rockhold vs. Yoel Romero: Interim Middleweight Title

Omitting Michael Bisping, Rockhold tends to spend over 1.5 rounds in the cage when facing elite competition, and Romero hasn’t seen a fight end in under 1.5 rounds since 2013. Because of this, taking Over 1.5 rounds @ -185 is a logical line.

Also, Romero missed weight, so it’s X-factors galore, but Romero @ +160 vs. anyone is always worth consideration.