Fans of the Ultimate Fighting Championship franchise are no doubt chomping at the bit to find out as much as possible about what could be the most impressive set of fights ever to grace the legendary Octagon. The full fight card has yet to be confirmed – unsurprising, perhaps, given the uproar over the withdrawal of Yan v Sterling at UFC 267, which became a one-two punch when Rockhold withdrew from UFC 268.
Fight fans will be hoping that UFC 269 delivers on all the promises made on the fight card – and UFC are treading carefully at this stage, ensuring that every item on the card will go ahead this time – it is, after all, being promoted as being the “blockbuster of 2021”.
The final fight night of the year is always popular with those who enjoy UFC betting, and this year is no different – many bookmakers are already accepting bets on some of the fights which have been announced, despite there being no guarantee that the fights will even go ahead!
Let’s take a look at what fights have already been announced for what should be a legendary UFC event:
UFC 269: Provisional Fight Card
The final MMA spectacular of the year – UFC 269 – is set to take place on December the 11th, although the venue has not been confirmed yet so there is a possibility that the date could be forced to switch as well at some stage. The word on the street is that Las Vegas will be the city, and the T-Mobile Arena will be the venue. This could just be a rumor, but it certainly isn’t an outlandish one and has an excellent chance of being correct.
Those who have been keeping an eye on the provisional card will notice one conspicuous absence from the fights listed below – the flyweight title fights between Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo. Whilst some fans are disappointed by this, the UFC will no doubt be hoping that their choices for the rest of the lineup will make up for this.
Title Fights
Charles Olivera vs. Dustin Poirier (for Lightweight Title)
Poirier has been absent from the UFC scene for several months now, perhaps enjoying the fame (and fortune) he earned after twice defeating odds-on favorite Conor McGregor not once…. But TWICE! Earlier this year. The most impressive of those performances was undoubtedly the rematch on July 10th – Poirier took the fight in the very first round via technical knockout, angering McGregor who felt he could go on despite having suffered a broken tibia. The ringside doctors quite rightly shot down that idea immediately, and Dustin had his belt returned to him within five minutes of taking it off.
Odds are hard to come by are present for this fight, with many major bookmakers holding out on taking bets. Those who are universally rank Poirier as the favorite with odds ranging between -163 and -150. Whilst Olivera is currently being ranked as the underdog with odds of between +130 and +140. To be fair, that isn’t an enormous gap – some would say there is everything to fight for here, and who doesn’t love an upset?
Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Pena (for Women’s Bantamweight Title)
FINALLY! Fans are absolutely chomping at the bit to watch this fight, after suffering multiple letdowns over the past four months including a viral infection that put a stop to an earlier matchup at UFC 265.
In fact, fans are SO keen on this fight that many have already got bets in place – though, there is a possibility that some of these bets were placed long, long ago, and the bettors are excited to finally see their hopes and dreams fulfilled – or dashed ….
The odds are currently listed as -770 for Nunes and +525 for Pena. It seems those placing bets feel strongly that Nunes has this one in the bag,
Other Probably Fights on the Night
The preliminary card also lists:
Leon Edwards vs. Jorge Masvidal
Dominick Cruz vs. Pedro Munhoz
Randy Costa vs. Tony Kelley
Cody Garbrandt vs. Kai Kara-France
Priscila Cachoeira vs. Gillian Robertson
Dricus Du Plessis vs. Andre Muniz
Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell
Ryan Hall vs. Darrick Minner
Sean O’Malley vs. Raulian Paiva
Maycee Barber vs. TBA
We’ll be providing a fuller breakdown of UFC 269 as and when more information becomes available. Many of the fights listed above could yet still be removed from the schedule, though it is likely the title fights will remain unchanged between now and December 11th, when the fights are set to take place.
Who’s your favorite MMA fighter? Will you be putting a bet on? Why not put your money where your mouth is! Ask any sports fan and the majority are almost certainly going to tell you that watching any sport is much more fun if you have placed a small bet on the outcome. Give it some thought!
