William Hill US: 67% of Money was Bet on Ronda Rousey

Published on December 31st, 2016 5:25 pm EST
According to William Hill US, which services the people of Nevada, 67% of the money that was wagered on last night's title tilt between "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey and Amanda Nunes was wagered on Rousey.

Heading into UFC 207, there were numerous questions about Rousey's mental state following her savage loss at the hands of Holly Holm in 2015. Rousey, however, appeared at the weigh-ins in good spirits and phenomenal shape, which convinced many people to put their money down on her. After all, many people reasoned, Rousey was only two fights removed from being a -1500 favorite, so getting Rousey at -160 or -170 seemed like a steal.

As we saw last night, however, Rousey was in absolutely no shape to go against the Women's Bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes. The fight against Nunes only lasted 48 seconds, with Rousey getting severely beaten before referee Herb Dean mercifully called off the fight.

In the end, Rousey's phenomenal shape hid the fact that she was woefully unprepared to step into the Octagon against Amanda Nunes, who is known for her explosive striking. Instead of focusing on her judo game, Rousey and her coaches seemed intent on showing the world that Rousey was now an accomplished striker. They didn't learn from the Holly Holm fight, and they paid dearly for it.

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According to William Hill, 47% of the total tickets were for Rousey, while 53% were for Amanda Nunes. The size of the wagers were much higher for Ronda Rousey, however, as a total of 67% of the $ brought in by William Hill was wagered on Rousey.

William Hill went on to say that the Rousey/Nunes fight brought in 5x the wagers that the co-main event, Dominick Cruz vs Cody Garbrandt, did.

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There is a very good chance that this was Ronda Rousey's last fight in the Octagon, which will surely be a blow to online gambling operators, as people loved betting for/against Rousey.