For the first time in just 17 months, arguably the UFC’s greatest fighter graces the Octagon again as Jon”Bones” Jones has his highly anticipated rematch against Alexander”The Mauler” Gustafsson for the light heavyweight championship at UFC 232. The former winner, Jones, won the first battle back at UFC 165 in 2013 and is a -300 favored with this fight with all the challenger, Gustafsson, coming back at +230.
Odds Analysis
The odds are a lot tighter than they had been the very first time that Jones and Gustafsson fought five years back as Jones closed as a -800 favored because fight with Gustafsson coming back in +550. The battle was really close with many believing the Sweden native edged from the New Yorker to claim the tournament, but the judges saw it in favor of Jones for a unanimous-decision success.
Many people will jump on the fact that Bones has tested positive for performance enhancers at two of his last three fights, both contrary to Daniel Cormier, and didn’t look like himself when he had been”clean” contrary to Ovince Saint Preux. From the OSP fight, though, Jones outstruck his opponent 111-58 and landed three takedowns to get a unanimous-decision win. The other area of concern is that a very long layoff for the former champ but that isn’t a factor in this fight as Gustafsson has been out more than Jones coping with injuries. I believe that the opening odds are where they ought to be and that I wouldn’t be surprised to see the line move a bit in Gustafsson’s favor.
Lately, Jones had a test that showed a few turinabol, the material that he was suspended for 15 months for, nevertheless in his substance. The Nevada State Athletic Commission didn’t have sufficient time to examine all of the science supporting this so the fight was transferred to The Forum in Inglewood, California because their commission has been coping with this drug as it pertains to Jones for the last year and a half. USADA has said that this wasn’t a new ingestion of the prohibited substance and are letting him compete.
Breaking down Jones vs Gustafsson II
Jones (-300) is an extremely creative and gifted fighter, employing a high-level fight IQ combined with above-average wrestling. Bones has shown on several occasions (his first battle vs Gustafsson) that the heart of a champion as he’s endured a lot of damage but continues pushing ahead en route to a 22-1 record with his only loss being a disqualification. The 31-year-old’s final bout saw him knock Daniel Cormier out with a head kick, but the fight was overturned to a no contest after a failed drug test.
Gustafsson (+230) is an exceptional boxer with fantastic cardio who has no difficulty rising to the event. As stated previously, his initial scrap with Jones was an epic war that left many wondering whose hands could be increased in the end of their 25 minutes. The Mauler put at a similar attempt against Daniel Cormier at UFC 192, but once again came up empty-handed. The Sweden native just has two other losses on his record, a entry loss to Phil Davis in his next UFC fight and a knockout at the hands of this ever-dangerous Anthony Johnson in 2015. The 31-year-old hasn’t entered the Octagon since his dominant knockout victory over Glover Teixeira in May of 2017.
Jon outstruck Gustafsson 137-114 within their very first meeting while every fighter landed a takedown. Both fighters were left bruised, battered and bloodied however, it was Jones who left with his hands raised. Ever since, The Mauler has been calling for a rematch while Bones proceeded to conquer three other challengers, including Daniel Cormier twice.
It will be interesting to see what improvements each fighter has made over the previous year and a half. Of course, Gustafsson was coping with injuries, while Jones has been working on his craft while on suspension. The New York native said he didn’t train for his first bout with the Sweden native and that’s the reason why it was so snug. We’ll find out whether he was telling the truth on December 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada to get UFC 232.
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