Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane meet inside the octagon at UFC 285 with champion status looming. But, both men are at completely different points in their careers. While Jon Jones was dominating the light heavyweight division, his opponent had barely set foot into combat sports. Let’s take a closer look.
2008: Jon Jones’ UFC Debut
In 2008, Jon Jones made his UFC debut at UFC 87. He defeated André Gusmão by unanimous decision at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Little did he, and everyone else, know that this would be the start of a legendary run through the light heavyweight division and the birth of an all-time great.
Ciryl Gane, however, was still a kid at this time. Aged 18 at the time of Jones vs Gusmão, he was likely still at school in France. During these years, he revealed that he played a lot of association football and basketball, of which he was very good. He even caught the eye of coaches at Vendeé Challans Basket, a professional basketball team based in the French city of Challans. But, despite the interest from their coaches, Gane decided not to sign a contract as he couldn’t visualise a full-time career in the sport.
2011 – 2013: Jones’ Early Dominance of the Division
In these years, Jones really started to make huge waves in the UFC. Starting in 2011, ‘Bones’ found himself with a short-notice title opportunity against Maurício ‘Shogun’ Rua, the light heavyweight champion at the time. He dominated ‘Shogun’ from the off, eventually ending the fight with a TKO in the third round. In 2012, Jones made his third title defence against Rashad Evans, the man he replaced in his first title fight just one year prior. A former teammate and friend, the rivalry got personal in the buildup but Jones once again prevailed and carried on dominating the 205 lb division. 2013 played host to a Hall of Fame fight for Jon Jones when he faced a rising Swedish contender, Alexander Gustafsson. A back-and-forth barn burner, Jones rallied to win via unanimous decision and went on record to say that ‘The Mauler’ gave him the toughest fight of his career.
On the other hand, Gane was at a completely different stage in his life. It’s unclear exactly what he was doing year by year in this period. But, in an interview with Actu.fr he revealed that after he finished school, he began to work in sales at a furniture store, joining a work-study program in Paris. An old school friend approached him about Muay Thai, he then trained before taking it up as a career.
2015 – 2017: Jon Jones’ Rivalry with Daniel Cormier
Into 2015 now, and this is when one of the greatest rivalries in UFC history took place, Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier. After a disagreement in 2010, the pair fiercely went back and forth until they finally met at UFC 182 in January 2015. Physical altercations, personal remarks, and pure hatred fuelled the fire of Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier. The fight was evenly contested but Jones came out on top, winning on all three of the judges’ scorecards.
However, this wasn’t the end – with the rematch originally being booked for UFC 200 in July 2016. But, before the scheduled bout could take place, USADA removed Jones from the fight after finding a potential doping violation. This led to a one-year USADA suspension and the stripping of his light heavyweight title. The Nevada State Athletic Commission also handed him a one-year suspension. In 2017, the rematch between the two rivals finally happened at UFC 214. Jones won the fight and regained his light heavyweight title via a brutal third-round knockout that started with a head kick and ended with Jones finishing him with punches. But, once again, Jones can’t escape controversy. A month after the fight, USADA flagged him for another doping violation and the fight with Cormier became a no-contest, with the belt going back to ‘DC’. Jon Jones was suspended, again.
During these years, Ciryl Gane was in the midst of his Muay Thai career. In 2015, he went 4-0 in the sport, notching up two knockouts along the way. And, he ended 2017 in the twilight of his Muay Thai career, going 4-0 once again – including a defence of his AFMT national heavyweight title.
2018: Jones’ Return to the UFC
15 months after Jones was suspended, he returned to the UFC at the end of 2018 to face Alexander Gustafsson in a long-awaited rematch from their Hall of Fame fight back in 2013. The second time around was far different from their first meeting with Jones absolutely dismantling his opponent to win the now-vacant light heavyweight crown. Jones flattened Gustafsson out and, while on his opponent’s back, threw down devastating strikes that prompted the referee to step in.
In 2018, Gane fought in his final Muay Thai bout against Daniel Lentie before meeting his current coach, Fernand Lopez, at MMA Factory and transitioning to mixed martial arts full-time. He signed with TKO, an MMA promotion based in Canada, and had two fights in 2018. Firstly, he submitted Bobby Sullivan in the first round via front choke to win the vacant TKO heavyweight championship and then made his first defence of the belt against Adam Dyczka, who he knocked out in the second round.
2019: Cracks in Jones’ Game?
After dominating Anthony Smith at UFC 235 in the first defence of his second reign, Jones faced Thiago Santos in July looking to make a second defence of his title. He won the close match by split decision, the first time that he didn’t win a fight unanimously – with Junichiro Kamijo scoring the fight 48-47 in favour of his Brazilian opponent. Were there cracks starting to show in a before-flawless game?
2019 was a great year for Ciryl Gane, who signed to the UFC after winning a third and final fight under TKO. The Frenchman was successful in his UFC debut against Raphael Pessoa and went on to go 3-0 in the year, with his other wins coming against Don’Tale Mayes and Tanner Boser.
2020: A Lack of Motivation for Jon Jones?
This proved to be the final year at light heavyweight and the end of his legendary divisional run. He faced the then-undefeated Dominick Reyes on 8th February 2020 at UFC 247, winning the fight via a very controversial unanimous decision, another lacklustre performance that many put down to a lack of motivation. Only 7 of 21 media outlets scored the bout for Jones, with the other 14 believing that the former college footballer did enough to dethrone the king. Jan Błachowicz looked like the next contender for Jones’ title but later in the year, he announced the relinquishment of his title and the decision to move to heavyweight.
While Jones looked like plateauing, Gane carried on surging through the heavyweight division. He made a huge statement at UFC 256 when he knocked out Junior Dos Santos, the former champion, in the second round.
2020 – Present: Jones’ Hiatus and Gane’s Rise
Jon Jones hasn’t yet made his heavyweight debut since his announcement in 2020, but that is set to change this weekend when he challenges for the title.
During Jones’ hiatus, Gane went on to rise through heavyweight rankings, defeating Jaiezinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Volkov and then Derrick Lewis for the interim title. He fell short in his unification bout vs Francis Ngannou before rebounding vs Tai Tuivasa at UFC Paris in September of last year, the company’s first venture into France. He now finds himself with a second title opportunity vs Jon Jones in a fight that looks to be fascinating.
What do you make of their paths to UFC 285? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
