Strikeforce Odds Open with Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza as Huge Favorite over Luke Rockhold

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza

With Strikeforce’s next few events already in the planning, the odds for the upcoming fights have been released for the major bouts.

MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas from BetonFighting.com and BetDSI.com released the odds to MMAWeekly.com over the weekend, with several new fights making the docket.

The Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix will be heading into the semifinals later this year and the last event has resulted in much closer odds for the next round of the tournament.

The favorite to win the whole Grand Prix remains Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and he’s still currently sitting at a -230 favorite over his next opponent Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva who is at a +180.

While Overeem remains the favorite, Silva is creeping up the betting lines after his dominant performance over Fedor Emelianenko while Strikeforce’s current champion had a lackluster fight against Fabricio Werdum.

The other side of the bracket shows Josh Barnett as a -255 favorite over Sergei Kharitonov at a +205 underdog. Both had strong showings in their first fights, but Barnett comes in as a fairly heavy favorite currently.

The other odds released over the weekend are for the upcoming Sept 10 show featuring Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza who comes in at a huge -345 favorite over challenger Luke Rockhold at +275 as an underdog.

Former Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson will return to action on the same show facing Sengoku transplant Maximo Blanco.

Thomson comes in at a -205 favorite while Blanco is currently a +165 underdog.

Obviously the odds can and likely will shift a bit closer to fight time, but for now Souza is a humongous favorite in his title fight against an unlikely contender in Rockhold, while Thomson is still favored in his bout with Blanco, but not at the same level in the main event.