Geoff JohnsonUFC 135 – September 24th, 2011
Jon Jones -450 vs Quinton Jackson +325
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson continues his quest to regain the Light Heavyweight Championship of the UFC by taking on young phenom Jon “Bones” Jones at UFC 135.
Jackson has had a troubling last three years since losing his belt to Forrest Griffin in 2008, but has managed to make his ay back into contention in the UFC with wins over Lyoto Machida and Matt Hamil in recent months. Though he hasn’t posssed the raw knockout power of recent years, Rampage has steadily beat everybody the UFC has put in front of him, earning a title shot against Jones.
Jon Jones for his part has literally taken the UFC light Heavyweight division by storm. At 24 years old, his only loss in his career came by way of disqualification due to illegal strikes.
But since then, he has obliterated competition in the octagon, completely annihilating former Light Heavyweight Champ Mauricio Rua to take the title back in March.
To say Jackson has his hands full is a massive understatement. Jones brings a dynamic and unorthodox striking game coupled with a premier level of grappling skill. He literally manhandled one of the best submission wrestlers in MMA in Ryan Bader in a title elimination bout, and then went on to win the title just over a month later.
Jones is faster, bigger and stronger than Jackson and brings a youthful energy that the UFC has not seen in a very long time.
To Jackson’s credit, he is always a game opponent., regardless of his competition, and always finds a way to stay in fights, despite being outmatched in certain areas.
Unfortunately, at +325, there is not enough money to be made on Rampage for me to consider a legitimate underdog wager on him. If the money was there to be made, a bet on the experience and fighting savvy of Jackons could be made, sadly, its not here.
