Jon Jones is favoured against Anthony Smith at UFC235. (OddsShark)
UFC oddsSmith is on a three-fight win streak but light-heavyweight champion Jones represents a major step up in wrestling skill and also has an 8½-inch reach advantage he can put to use in the standup game. With Jones’ moneyline value gone, method-of-victory props might be the way to go as a submission victory is available at plus money, perhaps due to Jones loyalists betting behind a knockout or TKO ., Tyron Woodley will make his fifth welterweight title defense against Kamaru Usman .
It’s a tricky matchup for Woodley, who will be facing a much more active striker in Usman, who also has the wrestling base to get into the clinch and avoid that trademark punching power than has allowed Woodley to get the finish in 12 of his 19 wins. Woodley was a -200 favourite so the line movement suggests there is buzz about an upset.
Ben Askren , recently brought in from ONE FC and regarded as the finest wrestler in all of mixed martial arts, makes his UFC debut in a welterweight tilt against Robbie Lawler . It’s a quintessential grappler vs. striker matchup, with Askren standing to lose much more face with a defeat than Lawler, who has lost two of his last three bouts.
Weili Zhang meets Tecia Torres in a women’s strawweight bout that has a good chance of going the distance, as 12 of Torres’ last 13 fights have gone the full three rounds. Zhang, technically sound as a both a grappler and striker, may be able to apply a strength advantage on the mat and against the cage.
The main card begins with one-time bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt taking on Pedro Munhoz in his first fight since losing successive title bouts to T.J. Dillashaw. That scenario and a stylistic matchup between two fighters who might rely on the standup game rather than test the opponent’s takedown defense works in favour of Garbrandt, as nine of his 11 wins have come by knockout or TKO.
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