UFC 284 midweek odds: Is the Islam Makhachev vs. Alex Volkanovski betting line too wide?

UFC 284 is taking place down under this Saturday (February 11th) from the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. The UFC’s undisputed lightweight belt will be up for grabs in a main event super fight when the current 155-pound king, Islam Makhachev, defends his throne against the UFC’s 145-pound champ, Alex Volkanovski. Now let’s go take a gander at the midweek betting odds for this champion vs. champion matchup.

Makhachev is the one defending his belt here, as Volkanovski is the one moving up a weight class. If you go watch any of their face-offs, then you will quickly realize how much bigger Islam is than Alex. That coupled with the wake of bodies that Makhachev has left behind him should easily justify him having a favored position here. The oddsmakers currently have Makhachev listed with a -380 moneyline, and dropping $100 at those odds could possibly see a complete payout of $126.32.

That leaves Volkanovski in the underdog seat, and he is currently being offered up at around +310. Throwing a hundo on Alex could prove to be quite lucrative if successful, as that $100 will blossom into a glow up of $410.

Wait a minute. Volkanovski is +310? Alexander Volkanovski? The same guy that we’ve never seen lose in the Octagon? Talk about a live dog. Look, I’m not saying that he should be favored over Islam, because he shouldn’t. However, I am saying that the wideness of this line is pure poppycock.

Online gambling site PointsBet had Dan Hooker closing as a +325 underdog to Makhachev for their UFC 267 matchup in October of 2021. So you’re telling me that the UFC’s current #1 ranked pound-for-pound fighter has about the same chance to beat Islam that Hooker had? Naaaaaaa fam. I love Hooker and all, but that’s crazy talk.

We’ve never seen anyone look great fighting Volkanovski. He’s superb at shutting down offense, but has also shown great toughness to withstand whatever actually does get through (T-City guillotine included). It’s definitely fair to say that Makhachev is the better grappler of the two, and there’s always the possibility that he just steamrolls Alex, but we’ve never seen anybody dominate Volkanovski like that. What we have seen, though, is someone brutally knocking out Islam (Insert eyes emoji).

In my opinion, Volkanovski is about as live of a dog as you can get. Picking Islam to win, I totally understand that, but having him favored by this much seems a little odd to me.