Yahoo Finance UFC 257 betting: Conor McGregor took it on the chin, and so did most bettors
Conor McGregor is the biggest name in UFC, likely the most famous figure in the history of the sport.
When he fights, he’s the headliner. Bettors act accordingly.
An overwhelming amount of the money bet on UFC 257 was on McGregor. There were some bettors on Dustin Poirier at +270, including one large wager at BetMGM just before the fight. But most of the money was on McGregor as a heavy favorite. So much money came in on McGregor, he moved from a -190 favorite to -310, which is a massive shift.
There were a lot of losing tickets.
Conor McGregor’s loss was a big win for sportsbooks
McGregor lost on a second-round TKO, with Poirier overwhelming him in the second round. Poirier winning by knockout was +650 at BetMGM.
Most bettors overlooked the underdog. As of Friday afternoon, 79 percent of the money bet on the winner of the fight was on McGregor. A lot of big bets, including McGregor tied to parlays for the NFC and AFC championship games, came in late. About 69 percent of the tickets were on McGregor despite him being an enormous favorite, according to BetMGM data analyst John Ewing.
BetMGM offered a prop on the fight lasting 60 seconds and who would win. McGregor winning in 60 seconds or less got 95 percent of the tickets and 99 percent of the money bet, with Poirier getting just 5 and 1 percent in that prop. That shows how confident bettors were that McGregor would win.
That meant a big night for the sportsbooks when Poirier won in the second round. It also was a nice night for those who took Poirier at those big odds.
Bettor gets a big win on Dustin Poirier
One bettor in particular had a great night. He or she had a ton of confidence in Poirier and it paid off in a big way with a $100,000 bet winning $270,000.
JUST IN:
A $100,000 wager was just placed on Dustin Poirier (+270) to win 😮#UFC257 pic.twitter.com/yLylxrDzJT— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) January 24, 2021
It was a tremendous upset that will have an impact on UFC for a long time. To get an idea of how big of a shocker it was, BetMGM offered props on which fighter would win in which round, and Poirier to win in the second round got just 1 percent of the bets as of Friday. There was so little money on that specific outcome, it registered as 0 percent of the money in that market.
McGregor’s aura of invincibility was broken on Saturday night. Bettors’ faith in him probably was too.
More from Yahoo Sports:
