Pavlovich opens as favourite over Pereira for UFC 335 heavyweight co-main

Sergei Pavlovich enters UFC 335 as the betting favourite over light heavyweight king Alex Pereira, with BetOnline opening the Russian heavyweight at -130 and Pereira at +111 for their five-round co-main event on December 12 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Those opening lines implied a 56.5 percent win probability for Pavlovich, but early public money has since pushed him to -164 — a 62 percent implied chance of victory. The movement reflects lingering doubts about Pereira’s credentials at heavyweight after he lost his divisional debut to Ciryl Gane at UFC White House.

The card’s main event sees Charles Oliveira defend his BMF title against Diego Lopes. Oliveira, who claimed the belt with a win over Max Holloway at UFC 326 and is riding a two-fight winning streak, opened at -172 before being bet down to -148. Lopes arrives on the back of a knockout of Steve Garcia at UFC White House and is making his lightweight debut.

The third announced bout is a middleweight clash between Joe Pyfer and Bo Nickal. Pyfer opens as a -130 favourite over the former NCAA champion Nickal (+111), a line that has seen little movement. Pyfer is on a four-fight winning streak that includes a knockout of former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in March, while Nickal most recently stopped Kyle Daukaus at UFC White House in June.

The three fights were announced by Dana White during the UFC 332 broadcast on Saturday night.