Conor McGregor was (briefly) the UFC 189 favorite over champ Jose Aldo

Conor McGregor

What are Conor McGregor’s chances of upsetting longtime UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo? According to the betting public, they’re surprisingly good. In fact, for a brief time, “Notorious” was actually favored to win.

After some line movement earlier today, McGregor (25-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC), who meets Aldo (17-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) in UFC 189’s pay-per-view- headliner, was a small favorite to win.

Only a handful of sportsbooks currently offer odds on the July 11 fight, which takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Initially, Aldo opened as a fairly substantial -270 (nearly 3-1) favorite. But money quickly poured in on McGregor, the brash contender who used some impressive fighting skills, as well as an already-legendary trash-talking game, to earn a title shot.

At one point earlier today, enough money came in McGregor to make him the favorite over Aldo, who’s riding a lengthy 18-fight winning streak with seven consecutive UFC title defenses.

McGregor was -125 (bet $125 to win $100) while Aldo was -115.

MMA handicapper Luca Fury had the details (via Twitter):

Aldo is currently ranked No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA featherweight rankings (and No. 2 pound-for-pound). Yet, McGregor, who’s ranked No. 6 at 145 pounds, is proving a surprisingly popular pick ahead of the summer title fight.

Although it’s arguably a matter of fight fans better more with their hearts than their heads, McGregor has backed up his talking with some impressive results in the cage. He’s 5-0 under the UFC banner and has recently posted knockout wins over Diego Brandao, Dustin Poirier and Dennis Siver to earn a shot at Aldo. (Watch McGregor announce his title shot in the video above.)

For more on UFC 189, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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