Jon Jones thinks his UFC 285 opponent Ciryl Gane is being overhyped.
[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] is being overhyped.
Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) faces Gane (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) for the vacant heavyweight title in Saturday’s UFC 285 headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Gane is being dubbed as one of Jones’ toughest tests due to his speed, agility and technique in the standup game. However, Jones says he’s faced better on the feet and pointed to his split decision win over Thiago Santos at UFC 239.
He also took aim at Gane’s past opposition – including his lone loss to former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou at UFC 270, where he was outwrestled in a decision loss.
Did you miss the debut of UFC 285 “Countdown” or just want to watch it again? Check out the main event preview now.
Did you miss the debut of UFC 285 “Countdown” or just want to watch it again? Check out the main event preview now.
The segment takes a special look at the vacant heavyweight title fight between former light heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) and former interim champ [autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] (11-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC). Jones will make his heavyweight debut and will return for the first time in more than three years.
UFC 285 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
“Countdown” goes behind the scenes with the two fighters, and you can watch the full segment above. And don’t miss the entire episode in the video below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.
Did you miss the debut of UFC 285 “Countdown” or just want to watch it again? Check out the co-main event preview now.
Did you miss the debut of UFC 285 “Countdown” or just want to watch it again? Check out the main event preview now.
The segment takes a special look at the women’s flyweight title fight between long-reigning champion [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (23-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) and challenger [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC).
UFC 285 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
“Countdown” goes behind the scenes with the two fighters, and you can watch the full segment above. And don’t miss the entire episode in the video below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.
This week’s “Spinning Back Clique” live stream reacts Jake Paul’s loss to Tommy Fury, Yaroslav Amosov’s dominance, UFC 285 and more.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts. This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Nolan King and Dan Tom will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:
At long last, after more than three years, Jon Jones will return this week – and at heavyweight. Jones meets Ciryl Gane in the UFC 285 main event for the vacant heavyweight title. If he wins, he’ll become a two-division UFC champion. Will that cement him as the GOAT?
Jake Paul lost his heavily hyped boxing match against Tommy Fury on Sunday in Saudi Arabia. Did his bubble burst because of it? We react to the biggest event of the weekend.
In Dublin, Yaroslav Amosov returned from fighting in a war with Russia for his home country of Ukraine and dominated Logan Storley to unify Bellator’s welterweight title. In the process, he may have a solid claim to be the best 170-pounder in the world. Is he?
Tatiana Suarez returned this past Saturday after nearly four years away due to injuries. She submitted Montana De La Rosa with a second-round submission at flyweigh. What’s her path to a title now?
UFC president Dana White wants lightweight champ Islam Makhachev and featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski to defend titles before they rematch for the 155-pound belt. Volkanovski will have to fight interim champ Yair Rodriguez. But who should Makhachev defend against to make this timeline add up?
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel. You can watch this week’s episode in the video above.
Daniel Cormier will be on the commentary team for Jon Jones’ return at UFC 285, and Joe Rogan joins the booth for the first time this year.
The third numbered UFC event of the year is rapidly approaching with UFC 285 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
As always, some marquee on-air talent will be there to help guide viewers through the experience.
Details of who will be working as commentators and analysts for the have been acquired by MMA Junkie through a person with knowledge of the plans – and you can see the scheduled broadcast team below.
“He’s the only one that stepped up. Nobody else wanted to fight me on this card.”
COSTA MESA, Calif. – According to [autotag]Jalin Turner[/autotag], [autotag]Mateusz Gamrot[/autotag] is the only fighter he was offered as a replacement for UFC 285.
Turner’s (13-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) original opponent for the March 4 pay-per-view card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas was Dan Hooker, who withdrew due to a broken hand.
Turner was eager to stay on the card, and got perhaps an even better replacement in higher-ranked lightweight Gamrot (21-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC), who Turner says is the only fighter that took the fight.
“I’m just happy he stepped up, somebody stepped up,” Turner told MMA Junkie. “I wanted to stay on the card. I could have sat back and waited for somebody else on another card, but I was like – I just wanted to stay on 285 so, they made it happen.”
He continued, “He’s the only one that stepped up. Nobody else wanted to fight me on this card. They didn’t want that three-week notice fight, so I took the challenge.”
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Turner has been on a role at lightweight, finishing his past five opponents in a row. He takes on one of the division’s best grapplers in Gamrot, but Turner says he’ll be ready for his wrestling.
“He’s a good opponent,” Turner said. “He’s going to come in, try to shoot, try to wrestle. I already kind of expected that from Dan (Hooker) a little bit, so I was a little bit prepared. It’s just another fight. I’m ready to take on whoever wants to step up and I always showcase it every time.”
He continued, “I’m ready to showcase everything I’ve been working on and who else to do it against than Gamrot? A high-level grappler. That’s his game, that’s his game plan, that’s his go-to. He’s going to try and take me down so let’s see how much I’ve improved.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.
Ahead of his return at UFC 285, Jon Jones has named his top five fighters of all time. Thoughts on his list?
Ahead of his highly anticipated return to the UFC, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] has named his top five fighters of all time.
Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) returns from a more than three-year layoff when he takes on Ciryl Gane (10-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) for the vacant heavyweight title in the UFC 285 headliner on March 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Former light heavyweight champ Jones is widely considered as one of the greatest fighters of all time and thinks becoming a UFC champ-champ would solidify him as No. 1 all time.
Joining him on his list are four other fighters. Scroll below to see Jones’ top five from his interview with RMC France.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.
Former UFC light heavyweight champ and upcoming heavyweight title challenger Jon Jones is a fan of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s character.
[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] is a fan of [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag]’s character.
Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) included Nurmagomedov in his top five all-time best fighters, but praised him beyond his fighting ability.
The former light heavyweight king spoke highly of Nurmagomedov as a person, as well as his actions outside of the octagon.
“I love what Khabib represents,” Jones told RMC France. “We’ve had our differences in the past. I’ve made some quotes about him. But there’s never really been a real beef. I love the way he carries himself as a Muslim. I love the way he represents his country. I love the businessman that he is. He just seems like a stand-up guy. He gives back to others. He’s a stand-up guy. He’s an admirable man. I appreciate his existence.”
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It appears Jones has changed his tune over the years. The differences Jones is referring to is when he dismissed the notion the undefeated Nurmagomedov is the greatest of all time. Jones said Nurmagomedov only started fighting elite-level competition late in his career. Before he retired in October 2020, Nurmagomedov’s final three wins came with finishes of Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje in title fights.
Jones returns from a layoff of more than three years when he meets Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight title in the UFC 285 headliner March 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. If victorious, “Bones” thinks that will cement him as the greatest fighter of all time.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.
Jon Jones says Francis Ngannou is to blame for their fight not materializing in the UFC before Ngannou left as a free agent.
[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] says [autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] is to blame for their fight not materializing.
Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) was gearing up to face Ngannou for the heavyweight title, but Ngannou parted ways with the UFC after they failed to come to an agreement on a new contract.
Dana White said Ngannou turned down the biggest contract in UFC heavyweight history, and Jones questions his decision to not take a chance on himself.
“I don’t think I deserve any criticism,” Jones told RMC Sport. “I’m here. Francis had the opportunity to face me and he opted out of the opportunity. If anyone should be criticized, it’s Francis Ngannou. If I’m correct, he was offered the biggest contract in heavyweight history. He had the opportunity to be a guy to dethrone me. He didn’t believe in himself. Francis didn’t believe in himself. He wasn’t willing to gamble on himself.”
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Instead, Jones will face former interim champ Ciryl Gane (10-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) for the vacant heavyweight belt in the UFC 285 headliner March 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He won’t be taking on the undisputed champion, but Jones is not ruling out a future showdown with Ngannou.
“I felt bad for the fans. I know that would have been a massive fight for the fans,” Jones said. “People from all around the world would have loved to see that event. And I’m not counting it out – I could see Francis going and fighting in boxing and doing whatever he’s going to do. I think he’s always going to be welcome back to the UFC. That’s always going to be a big, big fight, and I’ll be ready for him.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.
Ciryl Gane’s coach explains that there was truth in his comments, but that’s only how he “used to be” – not how he is anymore.
[autotag]Ciryl Gane[/autotag] raised eyebrows when he admitted last week that he gets lazy about training, but his coach, Fernand Lopez, says that’s no longer the case.
“Unfortunately I’m lazy,” Gane said. “That’s the truth.”
Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) responded by saying it’s probably mind games – “I smell a trap,” he tweeted – but Lopez confirmed that his star pupil is telling the truth. However, Lopez said his mindset changed after he suffered his first-career setback to Francis Ngannou in January 2022.
“That’s true. That’s how Ciryl used to be,” Lopez told MMA Junkie. “Before, Ciryl was the kind of guy that will train only if he have the fight announced, and since the loss that he had, that was a very good thing that happened, is that Ciryl just changed his mindset, and Ciryl started to train even when we don’t have a date.
“Ciryl now knows that the evolution is coming when you don’t have a date, so you can improve, so you can learn, so you can add some tools. But whenever you have a date, you cannot think about evolution anymore. You’re thinking about the fight, how to beat this guy in front of you. So when they give you the name Jon Jones, everything drops at the development. Now you focus on how to beat the fighter.”
Ciryl Gane reacts to the loss against Francis Ngannou at UFC 270. (Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports)
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With Ngannou surprisingly parting ways with the UFC, Lopez said Gane didn’t have the usual time to prepare for a fight when he was offered Jones. However, Lopez insists that’s not a built-in excuse since Jones had just spent years preparing for Ngannou, not Gane, putting both fighters at a disadvantage.
“So before, that was Ciryl,” Lopez said. “But now I don’t complain with that. And people – I don’t know why people are surprised when Ciryl is saying that. He didn’t have enough time. He’s not trying to have any excuse. He’s not saying any excuse. He’s being truthful saying that. A camp, usually a camp when we do a camp is like three months, right? But we didn’t have three months, because when they announced the fight we had less than two months. That’s what he’s saying.”
He continued, “This time we had to make it different, work to maintain the stamina, to maintain the strength that he had during the time that we didn’t have a fight. Even when he was injured, he kept training on the strength and conditioning. So, I’m not worried about that. What he’s saying is not any excuse, try to prepare an excuse like if he lost, in case he lost because he didn’t train. That’s bullsh*t.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.
