UFC 232 Odds & Betting Preview

UFC comes to The Forum in Inglewood, California, on Saturday night for UFC 232. The headliner is a UFC light heavyweight title bout between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, as Daniel Cormier was stripped of the light heavyweight title after his decision to focus on retaining the heavyweight belt. Jones and Gustafsson have fought once before, way back at UFC 165 in 2013, when Jones won via unanimous decision. This event was originally slated for Las Vegas, but it was moved on Sunday as Jones had a drug test that came back with a trace amount of turinabol, a banned substance that got Jones a 15-month suspension. However, the USADA believes that the test comes from a “pulsing” effect rather than a new consumption of turinabol, so UFC will move forward, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission needed more time to investigate the situation. The California State Athletic Commission issued a license, and now the fight moves west. Below, we have the full fight card as well as our UFC 232 betting thoughts about the main event and some of the other matchups as well.

UFC 232 Odds & Betting Preview

Main Card (Pay Per View)

• Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson (UFC Light Heavyweight Title)
• Cris Cyborg (champion) vs Amanda Nunes (UFC Women’s Featherweight Title)
• Carlos Condit vs Michael Chiesa (Welterweight)
• Ilir Latifi vs Corey Anderson (Light Heavyweight)
• Chad Mendes vs Alexander Volkanovski (Featherweight)

Preliminary Card (FS1)

• Andrei Arlovski vs Walt Harris (Heavyweight)
• Cat Zingano vs Megan Anderson (Women’s Featherweight)
• Douglas Silva de Andrade vs Petr Yan (Bantamweight)
• B.J. Penn vs Ryan Hall (Lightweight)

Early Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)

• Andre Ewell vs Nathaniel Wood (Bantamweight)
• Uriah Hall vs Bevon Lewis (Middleweight)
• Curtis Millender vs Siyar Bahadurzada (Welterweight)
• Brian Kelleher vs Montel Jackson (Bantamweight)

Jon Jones (22-1, -265) vs Alexander Gustafsson (18-4, +245) is still on for now, but given the drama that has followed Jones over his career, anything is possible. Jones’ victory over Gustafsson was the closest that he has had in his career, and it was a lingering injury to Gustafsson, who blew out his LCL, that kept a rematch from happening soon after, and Jones moved into a rivalry with Daniel Cormier. With his suspension, Jones has remained largely inactive, but his signature wins over Cormier give him the credibility he needs to keep getting these fights. Gustafsson has only fought five times since he and Jones met the first time, including a knockout loss to Anthony Johnson in Stockholm and a loss in a championship fight against Cormier. He did show terrific striking in a fifth-round victory over Glover Teixeira, but even though he has the reach to make Jones pay on the outside, Jones should still figure things out and win. UFC 232 Prediction: Jones wins via decision Cris Cyborg (20-1, -250) vs Amanda Nunes (16-4, +230) gives us another elite fighter who has struggled with failing drug test, in Cyborg, who has been drilling opponents left and right in the 145-pound division, a classification created just for her. Nunes is the current bantamweight champion, and her style is to bring the fury early, which either leads to quick wins or losses late in the fight as she has expended all of her energy by that point. She has reversed that strategy lately but has been to start slowly, but perhaps too slowly, as we saw in her rematch against Valentina Shevchenko and her win over Raquel Pennington. The two fighters are similar in size, so Cyborg won’t have the advantage in strength that she usually has. Cyborg has improved in areas of strategy, though, so she no longer relies on brute force to win. She has learned to wait for her opportunities to bring a counter. This will go to the cards, but Cyborg will get enough points to win and defend the belt. UFC 232 Prediction: Cyborg wins via decision