2023 Betting Preview for PFL 5 with Latest Odds and Expert Picks
- Ante Delija needs to finish Maurice Greene in the headliner to qualify for the playoffs.
- Larissa Pacheco’s PFL 5 odds of -1200 suggest she will destroy Amber Leibrock.
- Aspen Ladd, Julia Budd, and Olena Kolesnyk all need wins to advance to the next PFL stage.
The 2023 PFL 5 event is on the program on Friday, June 16, at Overtime Elite Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
This is the final event of the regular season in which we’ll see men’s heavyweights and women’s featherweights go inside the cage. This means that winning on is a must for some of the fighters involved.
For instance, the reigning heavyweight champ Ante Delija needs a quick win over Maurice Green in the PFL 5 main event to win enough points for the next phase of the tournament.
The PFL 5 betting odds suggest he will pull it off, and the same goes for many other stars – Larissa Pacheco, Julia Budd, and others. Let’s take a further dive into this 2023 PFL 5 betting preview.
Latest Betting Odds for PFL 5
Many of the top MMA betting sites have released their PFL 5 odds for the upcoming event.
The odds don’t differ much, with all the sites seeing Larissa Pacheco as the biggest favorite of the event with the odds in the ballpark of -1200.
It’s a similar case when it comes to Ante Delija in the main event of the evening. The reigning PFL heavyweight champ missed his first fight, meaning that anything but an early win over Maurice Greene would mean him failing to qualify for the playoffs.
This explains why his 2023 PFL 5 betting odds are -500 at BetUS. Our in-depth BetUS review covers the bonuses and promotions they offer when joining the site, so I highly suggest checking it out before heading to the site.
Ante Delija vs. Maurice Greene Main Event Preview
Will Ante “The Walking Trouble” Delija cause some trouble this Thursday? I think he will, which is why he’s one of my best MMA bets of the week.
Last year’s PFL Heavyweight champ is taking on Maurice Greene, and his 2023 PFL 5 odds suggest he will have an easy job.
In normal circumstances, he’d be an even bigger favorite, but Delija has been out of the cage for a while due to his surgery in January.
That’s why he had to cancel his first fight of the 2023 PFL season (against Yorgan De Castro). As a result, the Croatian fighter is now trailing behind his rivals in the PFL Heavyweight Standings.
The good news is that he still can get to the playoff zone. If he beats Greene in Round 1, he’s gonna win 6 points, which should be enough for him to book the ticket to the semifinals.
Another reason why I expect Delija to give his utmost in the PFL 5 headliner is because he wants to keep impressing the crowd.
If he continues to impress, he might get to fight the PFL newcomer Francis Ngannou sometime in 2024.
Best Bets for PFL 5
- Larissa Pacheco to Beat Amber Leibrock
- Julia Budd to Beat Martina Jindrova
- Aspen Ladd to Beat Karolina Sobek
- Olena Kolesnyk to Beat Yoko Higashi
Regarding the safest 2023 PFL 5 bets, I’m going only with women’s fights. The pairings are such that the favorite is almost certain to win.
For instance, Larissa Pacheco should have a field day against Amber Leibrock in Friday’s co-main event.
The PFL Women’s Lightweight champ is fighting her second featherweight fight this year. The first one saw her beat Julia Budd by unanimous decision, and I think the same might happen this time around.
Larissa Pacheco gets the W over Julia Budd!#PFLRegularSeason pic.twitter.com/pS3SwNqY6U
— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 8, 2023
Speaking of Julia Budd, she lost her last three fights. Still, those losses happened to fighters much better than her next opponent Genah Fabian, Larissa Pacheco, and Aspen Ladd, who’s also going into the PFL cage on Friday.
Ladd is looking to bounce back to the winning track after losing to Olena Kolesnyk by a majority decision last April. Kolesnyk missed weight in that fight, so it’s no surprise she had more power than Ladd.
No one can say that she’s better than the American when it comes to fighting IQ and skills. Kolesnyk’s strongest weapon is raw power and incredible love for fighting.
The Ukrainian is an aggressive fighter who throws everything she’s got at her opponents. “I need to kill her” is what she said about Yoko Higashi in a recent interview, showing that she’s really pumped up for Friday’s fight.
PFL 5 Fight Predictions
- Ante Delija to Beat Maurice Greene
- Larissa Pacheco to Beat Amber Leibrock
- Biaggio Ali Walsh to Beat Travell Miller
- Aspen Ladd to Beat Karolina Sobek
- Renan Ferreira to Beat Matheus Scheffel
- Denis Goltsov to Beat Yorgan De Castro
- Evelyn Martins to Beat Marina Mokhnatkina
- Danilo Marques to Beat Marcelo Nunes
- Julia Budd to Beat Martina Jindrova
- Olena Kolesnyk to Beat Yoko Higashi
- Jordan Heiderman to Beat Patrick Brady
- Denzel Freeman to Beat Isaiah Pinson
This is a must-win event for all the favorites. Their PFL 5 odds might be short, but it’s almost certain that most of them will win on Friday.
The good news is that you can easily boost the odds by combining several sure bets in a parlay.
For instance, if you parlay Delija, Pacheco, Ladd, Budd, and Kolesnyk, you’ll get the odds for PFL 5 in the ballpark of +280. I say that’s a great value!
While the odds I pulled are from BetUS, another great site to offer PFL 5 betting odds is MyBookie.
You can always compare the odds between the sportsbooks and choose the site that offers more value for this week’s event!
Betting on PFL 5
We have a lot of exciting matches on tap for PFL 5.
Ante Delija vs. Maurice Greene is the main event, but there are others worth betting on as well. One way you can make these fights even more entertaining is to bet on them.
Feel free to follow my predictions for PFL 5, or to make your own!
You can also parlay multiple betting options together for a bigger payout.
Larissa Pacheco’s odds (-1200) are not profitable by themselves, but you can add it to some other picks as a way to boost the parlay’s odds altogether.
Also, make sure you shop around for the best PFL 5 odds on the top MMA apps. Some will offer better odds for certain fighters, which means you can win more for the same bets.
Looking for more upcoming events to bet money on? How about UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Cannonier?
Footnote:
- Event information is taken from the official PFL site.