Odds and Preview for 2023 PFL 1 – Top Sites, Best Bets, and Fight Predictions

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is serious about becoming an elite promotion, the evidence being that it’s signed some real MMA legends for the 2023 season. The season kicks off on Saturday, April 1st, with PFL 1, an event featuring featherweight and light heavyweight matchups.

Stacked is the word that best describes Saturday’s PFL event, especially its main card. Every single matchup is super exciting, and the 2023 PFL 1 odds are pretty good as well.

This makes Saturday’s event ideal for betting. If you’re planning to do so, make sure to read the next section of this preview to learn where to bet on PFL 1.

The Professional Fighters League 1 odds are available at the top US betting sites focusing on MMA betting. You may ask why, and the reason is simple.

Many sportsbooks cover Saturday’s event, but this doesn’t mean you should just pick one by random. The thing is that the sports betting odds differ from one site to another.

To maximize your betting profits, you should stick only to the sportsbooks with the best 2023 PFL 1 odds. By following the steps below, you’ll be on your way to earning real money in no time.

Let’s take a look at the 2023 PFL1 betting odds courtesy of BetOnline, which will focus on the main card and prelims fight odds. The main event is priced as a landslide, and several other bouts on tap for PFL 1 figure to be one-sided.

The difficulty for bettors will be deciding other ways to take advantage of what look like sure wins, or locate the upset picks worth wagering on.

Despite the 2023 PFL 1 betting odds being stacked to one side, most of these fights are probably going to be very close.

Brendan Loughnane and Movlid Khaybulaev are the two fighters with the shortest odds, but even those two won’t have an easy job. Sure, they’re better than their opponents, but I don’t think they’re such huge favorites.

The good news is that I can see a few other fights with much better betting potential.

Priced at -181, Chris Wade looks like an amazing bet from my perspective. The same goes for Impa Kasanganay (-215) on the first fight of the evening.

I can also smell some upsets on Saturday, with underdogs like Will Fleury and Thiago Santos definitely looking capable of causing a sensation.

If you want to back any of these fighters, be sure to head to BetOnline.

Thiago Santos is the underdog against Rob Wilkinson even though he’s a former UFC fighter who’s won a number of accolades in this promotion. The reason why his 2023 PFL 1 odds are +155 is that this guy lost five of his last six fights.

However, all of those happened against some real legends – Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira, Aleksandar Rakic, Magomed Ankalaev, and Jamahal Hill. Excluding Rakic, all those guys are either former or current UFC champs.

Thiago Santos is my favorite PFL 1 bet, while my top longshot for Saturday’s event is Will Fleury. Sure, Krzysztof Jotko is a better fighter, but the Pole has had only a month to prepare for the fight. It’s because Fleury was originally supposed to fight Omari Akhmedov.

When it comes to safe bets, my PFL 1 betting picks are Chris Wade and Impa Kasanganay. Wade is already a PFL legend, who’s been fighting in this promotion since its inaugural season. Since then, he’s 10-5, with one of his wins happening against Bubba Jenkins. He beat him in 2021 and I think he’s gonna do it again.

Impa Kasanganay also looks like a safe bet against Cory Hendricks. The PFL Challenger Series alumnus was impressive in his light heavyweight debut last year and I think that’s just the beginning.

There you have it, my top 2023 PFL 1 fight predictions. I expect favorites to get the job done in most of Saturday’s bouts.

I say “most” because there are a couple of fights in which I think underdogs may come up victorious.

I think Thiago Santos is one of them. Even though the 39-year-old veteran has had problems with his knees for years, it’s still not time for retirement. He is past his prime, but that’s the reason why he moved to PFL – he still has what it takes to rule the light heavyweight division in this promotion.

Krzysztof Jotko will be one of his top competitors for the $1 million prize at the end of the 2023 season, but the Polish fighter might not start his campaign with a win. I think Will Fleury might shock him on Saturday.

For all the remaining PFL 1 fights, I say back the betting favorites.

In the PFL Challenger Series, it’s not enough to simply win a fight. You need to do it in style to get the contract with this promotion. It’s a whole different concept when it comes to the PFL regular season.

Knowing how PFL works, you understand that the fighters might not be willing to risk too much to get a win. Instead, we’ll probably see them take a more tactical approach.

That said, I predict that most fights on Saturday will go the distance and you can use the best betting app for MMA to place your wagers for the fights. In such cases, it’s the more experienced fighter that usually wins the judges affection.

Footnotes:

• Fighter records taken from Sherdog.
• The rules of the competition available at PFLmma.com.