BetOnline: Pettis Rare Underdog Against Holloway

(SPONSORED CONTENT) -- This Saturday's UFC 206 card at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto was to be headlined by a light-heavyweight title fight between champion Daniel Cormier and top contender Anthony Johnson, but Cormier had to pull out due to injury. So now the main event is for the interim featherweight championship when former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis takes on red-hot Max Holloway. The current action is heavy on Holloway, who is the -175 favorite on BetOnline's MMA odds with Pettis at +150 and the over/under set at 2.5 rounds.

Of course, the main featherweight champion was Irishman Conor McGregor. But it's not likely he fights at 145 pounds again after taking the lightweight belt from Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in New York. In doing so, McGregor became the first UFC fighter to hold two belts at once. The UFC recently announced that McGregor, who is taking some time away from the UFC (to try boxing? the WWE?), had "relinquished" the featherweight title that he won by knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds last December. McGregor has denied relinquishing that, however. This is likely all a power play as McGregor wants more money and perhaps a small ownership stake in UFC.

Pettis is a 29-year-old American who is 19-5 with seven wins by KO or TKO. He once was considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. But in defending his lightweight belt in March 2015 to Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 185, Pettis was beaten by unanimous decision as a heavy -450 favorite. Pettis was then a big favorite again at UFC Fight Night 81 but lost by split decision to Alvarez. A third straight defeat followed at UFC 197 by unanimous decision to Edson Barboza.

So Pettis, also a former WEC lightweight champion, had enough of the lightweight division and moved down to featherweight for the first time. As a -240-betting choice, Pettis beat Charles Oliveira by third-round submission (guillotine choke) decision at UFC on Fox 21 in August. It was a terrific fight, with Pettis nearly finishing Oliveira in Round 1.

The 25-year-old Holloway is also from the USA and is 16-3 overall in his MMA career. His last loss was to McGregor at UFC Fight Night 26 in August 2013. Holloway has since won nine in a row, including a first-round TKO victory (esophagus injury) over Oliveira in August 2015. Holloway last was in the Octagon at UFC 199 in June as a -300 favorite against Ricardo Lamas. Holloway won that by unanimous decision in an action-packed fight.

The UFC currently lists Jose Aldo as its undisputed featherweight champion, while Holloway is ranked No. 2 and Pettis at No. 5. Aldo has said he's not fighting in the UFC again unless he gets a rematch with McGregor. But the UFC plan is for Aldo to fight the winner of this bout next year. The line on Pettis-Holloway has moved around a bit. Pettis got as low as +130 but is back to +150, where he opened at BetOnline. Holloway was priced at -150 for a while but now the majority action has pushed his number back to -175. Pettis hasn't been an underdog since 2013 vs. Benson Henderson. Pettis won that one in the first round.