UFC Fight Night 217: Strickland vs. Imavov Odds

The UFC returns to action after a month off due to the holiday season and the new year. There has been a lot of shifting for the first event of the new year, including with the main event. Originally, UFC Fight Night 217 was supposed to be headlined by a light heavyweight fight between Nassourdine Imavov and Kelvin Gastelum. Unfortunately, Gastelum was forced to withdraw from the fight due to an injury less than a week before the event, so the UFC had to scramble to replace him with Sean Strickland. That has put Imavov at a bit of a disadvantage too as the fight will take place at light heavyweight instead of middleweight since Strickland is taking the bout at short notice.

UFC Fight Night 217: Strickland vs. Imavov will be held on Saturday, January 14, 2023, from UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada. The prelims will kick off at 4 p.m. ET, and the main event will start at 7 p.m. ET. All the action will be broadcast only on ESPN+.

UFC Fight Night 217: Strickland vs. Imavov Betting Odds at BetRivers Sportsbook

Sean Strickland -107
Nassourdine Imavov -115

Although Sean Strickland is taking this fight on short notice, he is only a slight underdog per the UFC betting odds at BetRivers Sportsbook. Strickland has lost his last two fights, and he fell in a close split decision to Jared Cannonier in the headline fight of the final UFC event in 2022. However, Strickland won six straight bouts prior to that defeat, and he has faced a much more talented set of foes than Imavov.

While Imavov is 12-3 in his professional MMA career and 4-1 in the UFC, he has not defeated the cream of the crop. His best win so far was a unanimous decision victory over Joaquin Buckley in September, so this will be a rather big step up on the UFC ladder.

The UFC returns to action after a month off due to the holiday season and the new year. There has been a lot of shifting for the first event of the new year, including with the main event. Originally, UFC Fight Night 217 was supposed to be headlined by a light heavyweight fight between Nassourdine Imavov and Kelvin Gastelum. Unfortunately, Gastelum was forced to withdraw from the fight due to an injury less than a week before the event, so the UFC had to scramble to replace him with Sean Strickland. That has put Imavov at a bit of a disadvantage too as the fight will take place at light heavyweight instead of middleweight since Strickland is taking the bout at short notice.

Imavov is two inches taller than Strickland and has a half-inch reach advantage with his legs. Strickland has a one-inch reach advantage with his arms though, so that aspect of the fight should be pretty even. It’s usually wise to bet on experience when it comes to matches like this one, and that makes Strickland the play in the main event.

Dan Ige -127

Damon Jackson +102

It’s been a rough 30 months for Dan Ige. The UFC decided to see what Ige could do and had him headline fights against Calvin Kattar and The Korean Zombie. Ige was able to go the distance, but he lost unanimous decisions to both fighters, setting off a trend. He has lost four of his last five fights, all of them by unanimous decision. His lone win in that stretch was a first-round knockout of Gavin Tucker, but that doesn’t seem very impressive when you consider his two previous victories were split decisions.

Damon Jackson can turn some heads with a victory over Ige here. Jackson is a late bloomer at the age of 34, but he earned a UFC contract in 2020 and is 5-1 since competing at the highest level of MMA. He has shown an ability to grapple better than most fighters his size, and he is worth backing at +odds per the current MMA betting line.

Ketlen Vieira -127

Raquel Pennington +102

Currently, the best bet on the board is for the bout between Ketlen Vieira and Raquel Pennington to go the distance at -315. Vieira’s last four fights have gone the distance, and she was the headline fighter in her last two bouts, so she went five rounds in decision victories over Miesha Tate and Holly Holm. Meanwhile, six of Pennington’s last seven fights have been decided by the judges.

The women’s division is in a strange position. There is enough talent and discipline now so that the veterans don’t get knocked out, but very few women have reliable finishing power. Additionally, we don’t see many submission specialists among the female fighters, so the overwhelming majority of fights between established fighters go the distance. That’s a winning angle to follow when betting on MMA until the lines are fully adjusted in this department.