The card features two championship fights along with the recently-turned bantamweight Jose Aldo and Kayla Harrison continuing her ascension against Ketlen Vieira.

Coming off the UFC’s first-ever event at the Sphere venue in Las Vegas, the sport will now head to Salt Lake City, Utah for UFC 307 where Alex Periera and Khalil Roundtree Jr. will go head-to-head for the light heavyweight championship and Racquel Pennington will defend her bantamweight title against Julianna Pena. 

The main card will also see the second bantamweight fight of Jose Aldo’s career after spending the vast majority of his prime in the lightweight division where he won the championship twice. Aldo will be going up against Mario Bautista, while rising women’s bantamweight contender Kayla Harrison will look to continue her dominance over Ketlen Vieira. Middleweight challenger Kevin Holland will also be in action against Roman Dolidze with an opportunity to be seen amongst the best in the division. 

Holland is a -160 favorite over Dolidze on ESPN Bet, but will have to adjust to carrying more weight after making the switch from the welterweight division to middleweight. Dolidze is a strong 205 lbs, while Holland is typically around 185 but decided to make the step up in an effort to focus more on his power and striking.

Holland has a number of submission wins in his career, but noticing his lack of quickness and grappling ability as compared to the top welterweights proved too difficult of a task to overcome if Holland ever wanted a title opportunity. His fight against Dolidze, listed at +135 to pull off the upset, will be one of the more intriguing bouts for fans of the UFC on a fight card that includes two title fights, but heavy favorites as well. 

On that note, Harrison has -900 odds to take down yet another challenger since arriving to the UFC in April of 2024 when she defeated Holly Holm by submission. Harrison stands at 17-1-0, with her only defeat coming at the hands of Larissa Pacheco in the 2022 PFL World Championship. Having not suffered a loss in nearly two years, it is understandable as to why the UFC and sportsbooks such as ESPN Bet see Harrison as the future of not only the bantamweight division, but women’s professional fighting as a whole.

Vieira has not fought on a pay-per-view card during her entire tenure with UFC dating back to 2021, so while Harrison is still new to the bright lights, her opponent has yet to appear on the biggest stages either. The Brazilian competitor has also scored a victory over Holm and is coming off a Fight Night victory over Pannie Kianzad in July of last year.

Having not competed in over a year, however, the odds seem to be stacked against Vieira even outside of what ESPN Bet currently lists. Look for Harrison to continue her path to eventually competing for the bantamweight title, especially with UFC President Dana White placing her on the same card in which the champion will be defending said belt. 

While Aldo is coming off a win in his debut match in the bantamweight division, he is still seen as the underdog for his fight against Bautista, listed at +120 as compared to his challenger’s -140 odds. Bautista is on a six-fight win streak including a UFC 292 victory over Da’Mon Blackshear by unanimous decision. He has scored three submission wins during the streak, while Aldo managed to submit Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301 in May. Having retired in August of 2022 after a loss to Merab Dvalishvili, the current bantamweight title holder, Aldo made his return in hopes of using his grappling ability to once again be placed with the best fighters in the world. 

Bautista also has a seven-year age advantage on Aldo but the former two-time lightweight champion will look to use his experience to overcome the underdog odds. Whether Aldo still has it in him to defeat a rising opponent such as Bautista remains to be seen, but the fight should leave plenty of fans interested as the final match before the two championship bouts take place. 

In the first title defense of the pay-per-view, Pennington and Pena will face off with Pennington not having suffered a defeat since 2020 and winning the belt in January of this year at UFC 297 by unanimous decision. Pena is a former champion herself, but has not competed in the UFC since 2022 after losing the title to Amanda Nunes at UFC 277.

Her rust clearly doesn’t seem to be a factor for ESPN Bet, as Pena is only listed as a +140 underdog to reclaim the championship off Pennington come October 5. The title holder has odds of -170 to continue her reign, but with a 16-9-0 record, defeating Pennington is by no means an impossible task and Pena stands a great chance of giving fans an exciting finish. 

Both fighters will most likely be looking for a submission victory as each has won multiple fights by this method over the previous few matches. While this means much of the fight will probably take place on the ground as a result, the odds reflect what should be a competitive matchup that could see at least one title change by the end of UFC 307. Pennington has held the title for only a short while, but her reign could come to an end if she is unable to outclass Pena in grappling and finds herself locked in an unbreakable hold. 

Reverting back to heavy favorites, Pereira is gearing up for perhaps the easiest title defense he has seen throughout his reign up to this point. With the light heavyweight division lacking top challengers for the Brazilian champion, the UFC has turned to Roundtree Jr. to give Pereira a competitive bout despite the vast difference in odds listed by ESPN Bet. Pereira has odds of -550 to continue his tear through the lightweight division ever since moving up from the middleweight class. Roundtree Jr. is the heavy underdog at +375 to pull off what would be the most shocking upset the UFC has seen in quite some time. 

Pereira’s dominance over the division has been the story of 2024 for the sport, as his loss to Israel Adesanya seemingly gave him the motivation to become one of the best fighters in the world today. He will most likely win the Fighter of the Year award at the end of 2024 due to his incredible knockout victories over both Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka in April and June, respectively. If he is able to meet expectations and handle Roundtree Jr. with relative ease, his placement as the top fighter in the UFC should remain through UFC 307 on October 5.