The Ultimate Fighting Championship is heading to the beaches of Yas Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi for UFC 251: Usman vs Masvidal. The no. 1 contender spot is up for grabs in the Women’s Bantamweight division as current #1 Jessica Andrade faces #2 ranked contender and Rose Namajunas. Find out why online bookmakers have the lower ranked Namajunas as the favorite in our Jessica Andrade vs Rose Namajunas Betting Predictions for UFC 251.
Jessica Andrade is currently ranked as the top contender after knocking out Namajunas for the belt in their previous fight. She then lost it the title to Zhang Wei Li in her very next fight. When Andrade beat Namajunas in their first fight, she did it as the underdog which could make the current odds puzzling to the untrained eye. Online bookmakers have Thug Rose as the favorite which is not surprising to me considering how their first fight went if you look beyond the result. Namajunas was dominating Andrade up until the point when Andrade managed to slam Namajunas twice knocking the champion out. It was a phenomenal show of strength and a brilliant wrestling move pulled off to perfection. But if those slams didn’t happen, Namajunas would have comfortably won in the scorecards if it got there. Which is why I totally agree with the way the odds are trending at the moment. Because of the unique situation however, there is quite a bit of a range among the odds listings for Namajunas. Make sure you check several bookmakers because you might find better odds that give you better value. 888sport for example have Namajunas as the -222 favorite but Fan duel lists her at -198. Check out our list of online bookmakers to see if their odds provide better value.
The way the odds are swinging for the lower ranked Namajunas is a clear indication of how this fight will probably go. I don’t expect to see any surprises in this fight like we did in their first matchup. In my opinion, Namajunas is on a different level to Andrade even after being knocked out by her. Still, both women are former world champions of their weight class and have hearts of champions. That and Andrade having a decent chin will make sure this fight goes the distance. My prediction is a unanimous decision win for Rose Namajunas.
