Jon Jones closing as betting favorite ahead of weekend clash with Ciryl Gane at UFC 285

Initially opening as a surprising betting underdog ahead of his UFC 285 title fight this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, former two-time light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones is fast closing as a decent betting favorite to defeat former interim titleholder, Ciryl Gane in his Octagon return.

Jones, who has been sidelined from active competition since February 2020, most recently headlined UFC 247 against Dominick Reyes in Houston, Texas – successfully defending his light heavyweight crown in a close, unanimous decision victory.

Jones would vacant his light heavyweight crown in August of that year, ending his second reign as division kingpin, following a trio of title defenses against Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos, and the above-mentioned, Reyes. 

For Gane, the Frenchman managed to mint himself as the interim heavyweight titleholder with a dominant victory over Derrick Lewis back in August 2021, before meeting with brief former teammate, Francis Ngannou in a championship unification fight in January of last year.

Suffering the first loss of his naive professional career, Gane dropped a unanimous decision loss to the most recent undisputed champion, however, rebounded to earn his slot in Saturday’s vacant title fight with Jones off the back of a Paris knockout over Tai Tuivasa.

Initially opening as a surprising betting underdog at +140, Jones was pitted with the +166 betting favorite, Gane back in January of this year, upon Ngannou’s official release and stripping as undisputed champion.

And ahead of this weekend’s showdown, Jones is slowly moving toward distinct favorite status – with bookmakers placing the former Jackson-Wink MMA stalwart at -180, while Gane has drifting out as a +155 underdog. Top online casinos in New Zealand can help with placing wagers and bets on this weekend’s clash to boot at the following link https://kiwidads.com/jackpot-molly-casino/.

Previewing his upcoming fight with Gane during fight week, Jones claimed that the Frenchman is the most limited fighter within the division’s top-15.

“I respect Ciryl Gane, I really do,” Jon Jones explained. “I say this humbly, but I study film constantly, and I just see a lot of patterns. When he is in one stance, there’s things he really loves to do. He goes to the same well a lot. When he’s in the opposite stand, he has a lot of tendencies.”

“I realize he doesn’t have much wrestling,” Jon Jones said. “He relies on evasion, trying to get away, He relies on Jiu-Jitsu instead of solid takedown defense. Same with the ground game. I watched Francis Ngannou be able to rack up maybe five or six minutes of top time in that fight. And Francis is not a guy that’s known to control people on top.” 

As for Gane, the Fernand Lopez trainee claims Jones has all the proving to do on Saturday in what comes as his first outing at the heavyweight limit.

“I don’t really have a really good answer for him,” Ciryl Gane said. “Just the people who look at my fights on the striking game know I have good striking game. I did well against some guys who really, really dangerous in striking, so I think I proved it.”

“I started MMA five years ago; the pressure is maybe not on my shoulders,” Ciryl Gane continued. “It’s maybe more on him, because he must prove [himself]. Because he knows the situation, that he’s going to be more uncomfortable.”