[autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] is favored to retain his light heavyweight title against [autotag]Jamahal Hill[/autotag] in the UFC 300 main event, but not by a large margin.
UFC CEO Dana White surprised many this past Saturday when he made a left-field announcement for the historic card on April 13 in Las Vegas. Pereira (9-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) will attempt to make his first 205-pound title defense against former champion Hill (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who was forced to vacate the belt after suffering a ruptured Achilles in July.
Despite Hill’s serious injury and expedited return to the octagon from the original timeline he laid out, “Sweet Dreams” doesn’t find himself too badly discounted by the oddsmakers.
The opening betting line from DraftKings.com has Pereira as the -162 favorite, meaning a $162 bet on the Brazilian would yield a $100 return. Hill, meanwhile, comes back as the +136 underdog, meaning a $100 bet on him would generate $136 in profit if he emerged victorious from the bout.
Hill, 32, hasn’t competed since January 2022, when he won the vacant light heavyweight belt with a unanimous decision win over Glover Teixeira at UFC 283. Pereira, 36, who is a student of Teixeira, will attempt to get revenge for his coach and register a first defense of his belt, which he was unable to accomplish during his first UFC title reign in the middleweight division.
UFC 300 takes place at T-Mobile Arena with a main card on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN.
The latest lineup for the monumental card includes:
- Champion Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill – for light heavyweight title
- Champion Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway – for BMF title
- Champion Weilli Zhang vs. Xiaonan Yan – for strawweight title
- Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan
- Kayla Harrison vs. Holly Holm
- Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic
- Diego Lopes vs. Sodiq Yusuff
- Jessica Andrade vs. Marina Rodriguez
- Bobby Green vs. Jim Miller
- Cody Brundage vs. Bo Nickal
- Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.