Seen today that the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas was a promo for UFC 285 featuring Jon Jones and Cyril Gane for the UFC heavyweight title. This is big news due to Jones being out for over three years and the bout also being for the undisputed heavyweight title and not an interim title.
Jon Jones Return
It’s nearly been three years since Jones’ last fight and since then he’s been teasing his debut at heavyweight after vacating his light-heavyweight title a few months after his defence against Dominic Reyes. Jones became the light heavyweight champ back in 2011 and defended his belt 13 times, but since his last defence we are yet to see him at all.
With hopes of him fighting last year not coming to fruition it seemed we wouldn’t see him till march at the earlier after the first two PPVs being in Brazil and then Perth. Jones seemly would be fighting either Stipe Miocic in December last year but that never happened due to Stipe not being ready. Jones also having contract issues continued to hold up his return as well.
How is Jones Vs Gane Going to Look?
Gane is widely known for his point striking blended with Muay Thai and after his stellar TKO of Tai Tuivasa in Paris only cemented his position at the top of the division and as someone more likely to welcome Jones to the division. His striking is what Jones is most famous for but some fans might not realise the wrestling pedigree of Jones. Most people have agreed that if this fight was to happen it would mainly play out on the feet till Jones felt he needed to wrestle Gane which is something we saw him struggle against in the Ngannou fight.
As I mentioned earlier that Jones is moving up to heavyweight, we’ve never seen him there before so it’ll be interesting to see how he handles not necessarily always being the bigger fighter than the other fighter. Jones will have been on a massive strength and conditioning regiment for this move up and will be interesting how his cardio holds up with all that extra weight he’s got to carry around and being that he isn’t a natural heavyweight unlike Gane that could play a factor into how he manages his energy and how his chin holds up against the power of Games punches.
What Does This Mean For The Rest Of The Heavyweight Division?
Ngannou’s last defence took place in Jan 2022 against Gane. Now Jones and Gane will be fighting for the vacant belt, Providing whoever wins defend the belt more than once a year it will really help move the division along. giving the fresh blood of the division a chance, names like Tom Aspinal, Sergi Pavlovich, Tai Tuivasa and others a go at the title later on.
UFC 285 So Far…
With is announcement UFC 285 is looking like its going to be a incredible night. Fights between Charles Olivera vs Beneil Dariush and Justin Gaethje vs Rafael Fiziev. Nothing is final yet with those fights but all rumoured for march so that could mean one or two could end up at London instead.
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