After beating four consecutive UFC champions, Jon Jones will look to add an all-time great to his resume when he faces Dan Henderson in his next title defense. That matchup is already locked in, according to UFC president Dana White. Still to come are the date and location, although he seemed to indicate that UFC 149 in Calgary was a possible.
According to the first odds released on the fight, Jones is a heavy favorite to beat the multi-time, multi-division champion.
In a line released by noted MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas, Jones is nearly a 6-to-1 favorite to defeat Henderson, with the number coming in at -565. Henderson is a +385 underdog.
Jones has been favored in all but the first two of his UFC fights. Since a UFC 100 victory over Jake O’Brien, he’s always been the betting favorite, and often by a lopsided margin. Even when he stepped up to fight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on short notice, he was expected to win.
So far, he’s come through to the tune of a 16-1 career record, with his only loss coming via disqualification after landing illegal downward elbow strikes in a fight against Matt Hamill that he was otherwise dominating. In defeating Rashad Evans at last weekend’s UFC 145, he became the first man ever to defeat four former UFC champions (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Rua were his other victims).
Henderson (29-8) may be the most decorate U.S. mixed martial artist ever, with wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko, Wanderlei Silva and Rua, among others. He’s won seven of his last eight fights, and was the reigning Strikeforce light-heavyweight champ when his contract expired and he left to rejoin the UFC. At 41, Henderson is bidding to become the second-oldest UFC champ ever, right behind his former teammate Randy Couture.