When Dana White announced this fight in late November, sportsbooks didn’t waste time opening the boards. Kayla Harrison checked in as a -155 favorite at with some sportsbooks, with Amanda Nunes sitting at +130. It was a respectable gap, Harrison favored, but not overwhelmingly so. The UFC’s bantamweight champ, fresh off her June submission victory over Julianna Peña, was being treated as the slight edge. Nunes, returning from two-and-a-half years away, was presented as a live underdog.
That didn’t stay static for long. Within days, most books had Harrison closer to -162 territory, which pushed Nunes toward +136 to +142.