UFC 197 Date: April 23, 2016 Arena: MGM Grand Garden Arena City: Las Vegas, NV The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is live on Pay Per View this Saturday night (April 23, 2016) with UFC 197: Jones vs St Preux. The action-packed 12-fight card kicks off at 6:30pm ET on UFC Fight Pass, with preliminary action continuing at 8pm ET on FOX Sports 1 and the main card getting going at 10pm ET on Pay Per View. If interested in wagering on any bouts for this fight card, all betting lines will be made available at Several Bookmakerss. My Fights to AVOID betting are: Light Heavyweight interim-title bout: Jon Jones (-650) vs Ovince St Preux (+475) Gabe’s Thoughts: If there is a time to bet against Jon Jones, this is probably it, considering all of the issues he has been having outside of the Octagon, his time away from the sport and the fact that he likes to play into his opponents styles and beat them in their own game, which could potentially spell for trouble against a heavy-hitter like OSP. That said, I think “Bones” avoids St Preux’s knockout power and likely cruises to a unaimous decision win on the judges’ scorecards, if not securing a finish of his own along the way. At the current betting odds, I think this is a “dog or pass” situation and I opt to take a pass. Gabe’s Call: Jones by Unanimous Decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID Lightweight bout: Glaico Franca (+155) vs James Vick (-175) Gabe’s Thoughts: I think there are too many question marks surrounding Franca in his second Octagon appearance and while I favor Vick to get his hand raised, I don’t like that he is coming off a long layoff, so I am not comfortable playing him. For those reasons, this will be a fight I stay away from at the sportsbook this weekend. Gabe’s Call: Vick by Split Decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID Lightweight bout: Efrain Escudero (+335) vs Kevin Lee (-420) Gabe’s Thoughts: I agree with Lee being the betting favorite in this contest, however I don’t quite agree with his current asking price of -420. “The Motown Phenom” had a lot of hype behind him going into his latest Octagon outing at UFC 194, where he was knocked out by Leonardo Santos inside of the very first round, and it looks like it has not died down as far as the sportsbooks are concerned. I think this fight is another “dog or pass” situation and I do believe the veteran Escudero is a live dog, however I find him hard to trust at this point, as I have seen him hand too many fights away. I don’t trust Escudero right now and I see absolutely no value in Lee at these odds, so this will be a fight I avoid at he sportsbooks come Saturday. Gabe’s Call: Lee by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Gabe’s Recommended Play: AVOID
