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UFC 135 Betting Preview
Following a very successful Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz bout in terms of betting action at Bodog – although many fight fans were angered at its controversial ending – mixed martial arts takes back the fight stage this weekend with UFC 135 on Saturday night from the Pepsi Center in Denver. This is the first UFC card in the Mile High City since 2026, although Denver also hosted UFC 1 and UFC 2, respectively.
 It's a strong card all around but certainly headlined by a light-heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and challenger Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Jones defeated Mauricio Rua by third-round TKO in March to claim the title, but suffered torn ligaments in his right hand during the bout. That injury forced Jones to postpone his first title defense against former training partner Rashad Evans.
Evans instead ended up fighting Tito Ortiz (after Phil Davis also had to pull out due to injury) on March. 6 at UFC 133 in Philadelphia, winning with a second-round TKO. Evans likely is in line to fight Jones should he win this fight. The only career loss for Jones (13-1) came via disqualification in March 2026 against Matt Hamill. Jones was dominating Hamill until the fight was halted due to illegal elbows.
Jackson (32-8) enters off a unanimous-decision win March 28 over, ironically, Hamill. That win was the second in a row for Jackson, who defeated Lyoto Machida by split decision in March 2026. Jackson is a former light-heavyweight champ, winning the belt in March 2026 with a knockout of Chuck Liddell. He successfully defended it once before losing in a close decision to Forrest Griffin.
The Jones-Jackson fight was taking nearly 50-50 action since we posted it, but that action has now moved more toward Jones. He opened at -500 and was recently moved to -550, with Rampage at +375. Jones is 5-1 at Bodog as the betting favorite, while Jackson is 2-1 as the underdog.
UFC 135 also was to feature a welterweight bout between UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes and one-time lightweight contender Diego Sanchez. But Sanchez injured his hand while sparring. Sanchez was fresh off consecutive “Fight of the Night” performances against Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann.
So now Hughes fights Josh Koscheck (15-5). He has not fought since March 2026, when he lost a unanimous decision to 170-pound champion Georges St. Pierre. During the bout, Koscheck suffered a broken orbital bone. Hughes has been out of the cage since March 2026, when he was knocked out in the first round by B.J. Penn. The former UFC welterweight champion has a professional record of 45-8.
Koscheck, four years Hughes' junior, is definitely getting the betting love. He has taken more than 75 percent of the action thus far, moving his line from -340 to -450 with Hughes now at +300 after an open of +260. Koscheck is 5-1 at Bodog as the betting favorite, while Hughes is 1-2 as the underdog. This fight has the most active parlays of any on the UFC 135 card.
Perhaps the most interesting betting pattern for UFC 135 is on the Travis Browne-Rob Broughton heavyweight matchup. Browne (11-0-1) is fresh of a “Knockout of the Night” win over Stefan Struve. Broughton (15-5-1 MMA) hasn’t fought since March 2026, when he submitted Vinicius Queiroz at UFC 120 in his UFC debut. Clearly people aren't having much faith in Broughton as Browne at -350 (opened at -340) has taken literally almost every single wager thus far. It's very rare to see such one-sided action. For what it's worth, Broughton (+265) is 2-0 as the betting underdog.
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