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In many ways, Jon Jones is starting anew in his interim light heavyweight title fight at UFC 197.
In others, he’s picking up right where he left off before getting stripped of his championship last year and serving an indefinite suspension. Sports books are one of the places where nothing has changed for the 28-year-old former king of the 205-pound division.
Jones comes in as at least a 2-to-1 favorite for his 15th consecutive fight in tonight’s main event against Ovince Saint Preux. In his eight previous career title fights, he’s an average minus-660 favorite (risking $6.60 to win $1).
That fits right with the minus-600 price Jones is laying against St. Preux, who comes back at plus-450 (risking $1 to win $4.50). St. Preux has prevailed in the last two fights when he entered an underdog — against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Patrick Cummins.
Jones has only been an underdog twice in his career, against Andre Gusmao and Stephan Bonnar in his first two UFC bouts. Starting with UFC 197, it’s tough to see that streak breaking any time soon.
Find odds and a breakdown of every fight below along with picks from ESPN Radio’s Steve Cofield (29-18 year to date), Las Vegas Sun’s Ray Brewer (28-19), KSNV’s Randy Howe (27-20) and Las Vegas Sun’s Case Keefer (25-22).
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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