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 in UFC 232. The former champion, Jones, won the first battle back at UFC 165 at 2013 and is a -300 favored for this struggle with all the challenger, Gustafsson, coming back in +230.
Odds Analysis
The odds are a lot tighter than they were the very first time that Jones and Gustafsson fought over five years back as Jones closed as a -800 favored in that struggle with Gustafsson coming back at +550. The battle was extremely close with many thinking that the Sweden native edged from the New Yorker to claim the tournament, but the judges saw it in favour of Jones for a unanimous-decision victory.
Many people would jump on that Bones has tested positive for performance enhancers at two of his last three fights, both contrary to Daniel Cormier, and did not seem like himself when he had been”clean” against Ovince Saint Preux. From the OSP fight, however, Jones outstruck his opponent 111-58 and landed three takedowns to get a unanimous-decision win. The other area of concern is that a long layoff for the former champ but that isn’t a factor in this fight as Gustafsson has been out more than Jones dealing with accidents. I think that the opening odds are where they ought to be and that I would not be surprised to find the line move a little bit in Gustafsson’s favor.
Recently, Jones had a test that revealed a few turinabol, the substance that he was suspended for 15 months for, nevertheless in his substance. The Nevada State Athletic Commission didn’t have enough time to examine all the science supporting this so the fight was moved to The Forum in Inglewood, California as their commission was coping with this drug as it pertains to Jones for the previous year and a half. USADA has said that this was not a brand new ingestion of this banned substance and are letting him compete.
Slimming down Jones vs Gustafsson II
Jones (-300) is a very creative and gifted fighter, using a high-level fight IQ combined with above-average wrestling. Bones has revealed on several occasions (his first battle vs Gustafsson) the center of a champion as he’s endured a lot of harm but continues pushing ahead en route to a 22-1 record together with his only loss being a disqualification. The 31-year-old’s final bout saw him knock Daniel Cormier out with a head kick, however, the struggle was overturned to a no contest after a failed drug test.
Gustafsson (+230) is a exceptional fighter with excellent cardio who has no difficulty rising to the occasion. As stated previously, his first scrap with Jones was an epic war which left many wondering whose hand could be increased at the end of their 25 minutes. The Mauler put at a similar effort against Daniel Cormier at UFC 192, but once again came up empty-handed. The Sweden native only has two other losses on his album, a entry loss to Phil Davis in his next UFC fight along with a knockout in the hands of this ever-dangerous Anthony Johnson in 2015. The 31-year-old has not entered the Octagon because his dominant knockout victory over Glover Teixeira in May of 2017.
Jon outstruck Gustafsson 137-114 in their 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 was calling for a rematch while Bones went on to conquer three other challengers, such as Daniel Cormier twice.
It will be interesting to see what improvements each fighter has made during the last year and a half. Obviously, Gustafsson was coping with injuries, while Jones was 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 is why it was so snug. We will figure out whether he had been telling the truth on December 29 in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada to get UFC 232.

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