He is back with a bang! Jon Jones, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship Light Heavyweight division champion will be back in the octagon after over a year. Jones has a formidable record with only one loss to his name in his UFC career and even that loss was a controversial decision where he apparently was disqualified for landing illegal elbows on his opponent while mounted in a top position. Jones’ act of course will be the highlight of UFC fight night 197, but there are also several other exciting prospects scheduled. Jones’ fight is scheduled to take place in none other than inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and he will be hungry to put his name on the interim title.
The bookies know his potential, and MMA betting experts are all backing Jones on this one. However, it is still a tricky fight, coming back from a year off is no walk in the park. Will jones be rusty? Or will he be back with a vengeance? We will put our money on the latter.
The other three fights definitely worth tuning into during UFC fight night 197 are Cody East Vs. Walt Harris, Clint Hester Vs. Marcos Rogerio De Lima and Efrain Escudero Vs. Kevin Lee. These fights are 265lbs, 205 lbs and 155 lbs respectively.
The Hester Vs. de Lima (205 lbs) fight will be well balanced and hard to call. Hester will be fighting in the light heavyweight division for the first time in four years.
On the other hand, de Lima is not slouch, he has successfully beaten 12 opponents, 10 of them by Knock Out. His most recent loss was in August of 2015 by submission against Nikita Krylov.
As far as the Cody East Vs Harris fight is concerned, we would be comfortable backing East who, since his last loss in 2012 to Tony Lopez has looked unstoppable and gone on to win nine fights straight and has eight knockouts to his name.
The Escudero Vs Lee fight is really unpredictable and we suggest just enjoying the spectacle rather than betting on it, it is a real wild card.