Betting Lines - Max Holloway Opens As Sizeable Favourite Ahead Of July Headliner Against Yair Rodriguez

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari - Zuffa LLC

Former UFC featherweight champion, Max 'Blessed' Holloway is set to make his second Octagon walk of the year on July 17th in a main event clash against the returning Yair 'El Pantera' Rodriguez. And ahead of the UFC Fight Night headliner, he has opened as quite a sizeable betting favourite against the Chihuahua striker. 

Holloway, who makes his second Octagon walk of the year, headlined UFC Fight Island 8 in January on 'Fight Island' in Abu Dhabi, UAE -- scoring a breathtaking unanimous decision success against the then-streaking, Calvin Kattar over the course of five rounds -- breaking his own record for the most significant strikes landed in a fight. 

For Mexican striker, Rodriguez, he returns for the first time since the completion of his retroactive USADA suspension, after he failed to provide his whereabouts to the anti-doping agency on multiple occasions, resulting in multiple violations. 

Rematching common-foe, Jeremy Stephens in his last Octagon appearance, Rodriguez managed a unanimous decision win, Fight of the Night display against the Iowa native in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night Boston back in October of 2019. 

According to online bookie, BetOnline.Ag -- Holloway is currently sitting as a sizeable -400 (4-1) favourite, while 28-year-old Taekwondo black belt, Rodriguez is sitting at +300 at the time of writing. 

Prior to his spectacular victory over New England Cartel standout, Kattar, Hawaiin striking ace, Holloway had suffered a pair of losses to current featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovksi -- dropping his title in December of 2019, before a dubious split decision loss to the Australian titleholder back in July of last year on 'Fight Island'. 

The December 2019 loss to Volkanovski snapped a stunning 14-fight undefeated streak for Holloway at 145lbs, which included successes against the likes of Andre Fili, Cub Swanson, Charles Oliveira, common-foe, Stephens, Ricardo Lamas, Anthony Pettis, Jose Aldo (x2), Brian Ortega, and Frankie Edgar.

Rodriguez, the victor of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America back in November of 2014 -- has notched eye-catching Octagon wins over the likes of common-opposition, Fili and Stephens, as well as Charles Rosa, Alex Caceres, Dan Hooker, B.J. Penn, and Chan Sung Jung.