Valentina Shevchenko a big favorite to beat Jessica Andrade, retain title at UFC 261

UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko again will be clearly favored to retain her title.

Despite facing arguably her sternest test in former strawweight champ Jessica Andrade in the co-main event of UFC 261, Shevchenko has opened up as a roughly 3-1 favorite.

According to oddsmakers at SportsBetting.ag, Shevchenko is listed as a -360 favorite, whereas Andrade comes back as a +295 underdog. This means a bettor would need to wager $360 on Shevchenko in order to win $100, while a $100 bet on Andrade would pay out $295.

While the odds are heavily on Shevchenko’s side, they’re a lot narrower than her most recent title defense against Jennifer Maia at UFC 255, where she opened as a massive -1500 favorite.

Since beating former strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the vacant flyweight title in December 2018, Shevchenko (20-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) has notched four dominant title defenses against Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Katlyn Chookagian, and Maia.

Former strawweight champion Andrade (21-8 MMA, 12-6 UFC) made her successful flyweight debut at UFC Fight Night 180 in October, when she dispatched of Chookagian in the first round to earn a “Performance of the Night” bonus.

UFC 261 takes place April 24 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. It will be open to the public completely, the first UFC event in more than a year to not have any capacity limits.