UFC 285 odds: Jon “Bones” Jones favored to win vacant title in heavyweight debut Saturday night

It’s often said that styles make fights. And that’s absolutely true, no matter if the mano-a-mano combat takes place in a squared ring or caged octagon. What sells fights, however, are stars. And if one of those stars is controversial and polarizing and coming off a lengthy absence, all while widely considered to be the GOAT of his sport?

Now that’s a fight promoter’s dream — a dream that UFC boss Dana White will realize Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

That’s where controversial and polarizing GOAT Jon Jones will end his three-year layoff against France’s Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 285. The bout is for a vacant title in the heavyweight division — a division in which Jones has never competed in his 22-fight, 15-year UFC career.

Despite the step up in weight — as well as a hiatus that pre-dates the COVID-19 pandemic — Jones is solidly favored to win for the 27th time in 28 professional MMA fights.

Odds updated as of 11:15 a.m. ET on March 3.

It’s impossible to understate how successful Jon “Bones” Jones has been inside the octagon. It’s also nearly impossible to list all the transgressions that have marred Jones’ life outside of said octagon.

Together, those two realities explain why no fighter has moved the UFC needle over the years quite like Jones.

Pure fight fans love Jones for an unmatched fighting skill that helped the New York native set numerous UFC records that he still holds to this day — those records include most title fight wins (14), most light heavyweight victories (20) and youngest fighter to claim a championship.

Regarding the latter: The now 35-year-old Jones was 23 years and 243 days old when he stopped Mauricio Rua for the light heavyweight belt in March 2011.

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On the flip side, a large segment of the UFC community has grown tired of Jones’ antics away from the sport. Those antics have included five arrests since 2012 on charges ranging from drunk driving to domestic violence, plus failed tests for both performance enhancing and illicit drugs, and multiple money disputes with UFC’s bosses.

Because of his legal troubles and failed drug tests, Jones was stripped of his light heavyweight title three different times — more than any fighter in UFC history. He also has been suspended on three occasions.

Despite all of his indiscretions, Jones not only is once again back in the UFC, he’s headlining a major event and being given a title shot in a division that’s foreign to him.

However, Jones isn’t exactly returning to work against a tomato can. Gane, who turns 33 next month, owns an 11-1 professional record, including 8-1 since joining the UFC in August 2019.

Gane’s last two victories were knockouts, but in between was his lone blemish: a unanimous decision loss to Francis Ngannou in a heavyweight title bout in UFC 270 in January 2022.

Ngannou quit the UFC almost exactly a year later in a contract dispute, and in the process he relinquished his heavyweight belt. It’s a belt that Gane will try to capture for a second time Saturday night. To do so, though, the 6-foot-4, 247-pound Frenchman will have to overcome the betting odds. Not to mention a highly controversial, immensely polarizing opponent who also just happens to be the best fighter to ever slip on a pair of fingerless gloves.

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