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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Despite the matchup not being guaranteed to happen, oddsmakers have opened up betting lines for a potential rematch between Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, and the early favorite is, unsurprisingly, the man who won the first matchup.
Evans opened a near 2-to-1 favorite at -185 for the fight, which may come at UFC 130 in May depending on what happens with Thiago Silva's UFC 125 drug screening, currently being scrutinized. The possibility of a failed test led to Evans being at least initially approached by the UFC about taking Silva's place.
Evans and Jackson met for the first time on Memorial Day Weekend in 2010 at UFC 114. Evans used a good mixture of striking and takedown attempts to outpoint Rampage in the fight, surviving a lat burst from Jackson in the third round to secure the unanimous decision victory. The fight was the first non-title UFC fight to reach over one million pay-per-view buys.
Jackson, meanwhile, opened as a +155 underdog in this fight. For those unaware of how line betting works, a positive number allows the bettor to win more than their bet, while more money would need to be bet on a negative number to make that same amount. In this case, betting $100 on Jackson would garner a $155 win, while you would need to bet $185 on Evans to win $100.
Penick's Analysis: I'm not surprised with the lines opening the way they have, as Evans took a clear decision in the first bout, but I'd suspect if this fight actually does come to fruition that a lot of money might come in on Rampage. I think he's got a very good shot in the rematch, especially with Evans coming off of a year long layoff due to this latest knee injury. I think Rampage will certainly come out better than he did in the first fight, and if he can rock Evans like he did in the third round earlier in the fight, he'll have a very good chance at winning that fight.
[Rashad Evans art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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