Going underground: Jon Jones goes cave crawling ahead of UFC 247 fight week

Ahead of UFC 247 fight week, UFC champion Jon Jones went deep into a cave to try to overcome his claustrophobia.

[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] decided to overcome one of his biggest fears ahead of fight week.

In perhaps one of the most bizarre pre-fight activities we’ve seen in a while, UFC light heavyweight champion Jones, who defends his title against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 on Saturday, decided it would be a good idea to crawl into a tight, dark cave … just before fight week.

Yup, he decided to experiment with a different type of pre-fight preparation by conquering his fear of claustrophobia in the most dangerous way in an activity Jones described as one of the scariest things he’s ever done.

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“Crawled about a half mile down into a tight cave last night to look my claustrophobia in the face. The cave was pitch black, cold and unforgiving. Some of the areas we went through was so tight we had to army crawl in a single file line. The scariest thing about that was if someone were to freak out, they would be no way to turn around or escape. We crawled through tunnels that were literally just wider than our shoulders. When you are in a situation like that, your mind takes you to wild places, what happens if this rock falls? what happens if one of us gets stuck? What happens if they panic? What happens if I panic!? Are there animals/snakes living down here? None of us had cell phone reception, and none of us were professionals. But we kept moving forward anyways. Was honestly one of the most scariest and mentally challenging things I’ve ever done. I’m glad I did it, I’m learning to live on the other side of fear, God has not given us a spirit of fear. I’ve learned that often times on the other side of our insecurities and fears are great rewards. I put my mind through a test and I passed, woke up this morning a little sore but victorious.”

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Crawled about a half mile down into a tight cave last night to look my claustrophobia in the face. The cave was pitch black, cold and unforgiving. Some of the areas we went through was so tight we had to army crawl in a single file line. The scariest thing about that was if someone were to freak out, they would be no way to turn around or escape. We crawled through tunnels that were literally just wider than our shoulders. When you are in a situation like that, your mind takes you to wild places, what happens if this rock falls? what happens if one of us gets stuck? What happens if they panic? What happens if I panic!? Are there animals/snakes living down here? None of us had cell phone reception, and none of us were professionals. But we kept moving forward anyways. Was honestly one of the most scariest and mentally challenging things I’ve ever done. I’m glad I did it, I’m learning to live on the other side of fear, God has not given us a spirit of fear. I’ve learned that often times on the other side of our insecurities and fears are great rewards. I put my mind through a test and I passed, woke up this morning a little sore but victorious

A post shared by Jon Bones Jones (@jonnybones) on

Jones came out unscathed after his risky fight week excursion. But hey, that’s another win for the champion.

UFC 247 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

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