Khamzat Chimaev opens as favorite in UFC 319 main event vs Dricus du Plessis

UFC contender Khamzat Chimaev has opened as a betting favorite ahead of his UFC 319 title fight against Dricus du Plessis.

At UFC 319 on August 16, Khamzat Chimaev will challenge Dricus du Plessis for the UFC middleweight championship. It’s a moment that has been a long time coming for ‘Borz’, who has been on the rise in the promotion for five years now. Ever since his debut, he has been tipped for greatness – and in truth, it took a lot longer than many people imagined for us to get to this point.

RELATED: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev finally booked for middleweight title fight at UFC 319

Now, though, he’ll finally get a crack at having UFC gold wrapped around his waist. In order for Chimaev to finally climb to the top of the mountain, though, he’ll have to overcome an incredibly tough challenge in the form of du Plessis. While a lot of people like to laugh and joke about DDP’s abilities, the fact of the matter is that he has beaten some of the greats at middleweight including Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker.

He’s no joke, and he needs to be taken seriously. With that being said, if you ask DraftKings, Chimaev is still the favorite to leave Chicago as middleweight champion.

du Plessis is the underdog vs Chimaev?

The odds suggest that Khamzat Chimaev is a -198 favorite. On the flip side, the reigning champion du Plessis is listed as a +164 underdog. Given the hype that’s been surrounding Khamzat for so long now, we’d actually say that’s pretty generous to the South African.

Still, he’ll be hungry to go out there and prove everyone wrong, just as he’s done so many times before.

Do you believe these odds are fair? If the answer is no, how would you have listed them? Let us know, BJPENN Nation!