Israel Adesanya will be looking to become just the fifth fighter in UFC history to simultaneously hold championship belts in multiple weight divisions when he battles Jan Blachowicz for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 259 as a -235 favourite on the UFC odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Adesanya has been dominant during his rise to the top of the UFC middleweight division, posting wins in each of his first 20 career fights going into Saturday night’s bout at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Adesanya has seen five of his nine UFC clashes decided by the judges. That includes his successful bid for the interim UFC middleweight crown against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236, and his first-ever defence of the unified UFC middleweight title against Yoel Romero at UFC 248.
Blachowicz prepares for his first defence of the UFC light heavyweight title as a +185 underdog. Blachowicz claimed the title with a second-round TKO win over Dominick Reyes at UFC 253 that paid out on +200 odds at online betting sites and earned the 38-year-old his fifth career Performance of the Night bonus. Blachowicz has now finished opponents on three occasions during a four-fight win streak, and has also won in each of his three most recent fights that went the distance.
Two other belts will be on the line on Saturday night. UFC featherweight champion Amanda Nunes takes on Megan Anderson as massive -1000 chalk, while Petr Yan defends his UFC bantamweight crown for the first time, clashing with Aljamain Sterling in a -115 pick’em.
Nunes became the first woman to simultaneously hold multiple UFC championship belts when she claimed the UFC women’s featherweight title with a first-round knockout of Cris Cyborg at UFC 232. Holder of the UFC women’s bantamweight title since 2016, Nunes defended her UFC women’s featherweight crown for the first time at UFC 250 with a unanimous decision win over Felicia Spencer as -550 wager.
Sporting long +600 odds, Anderson enjoys her first UFC title shot after posting a first-round KO win over Norma Dumont Viana at UFC Fight Night 169. The former Invicta FC featherweight champion has now seen each of her past four fights last less than four minutes, earning the win in three of those contests.
Undefeated in each of his past 10 fights, Yan claimed the UFC bantamweight crown with a fifth-round TKO win over former champion Jose Aldo at UFC 251. Sterling earned his title shot with an opening-round submission victory over Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 that also extended his win streak to five fights.
