[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] wasn’t fully satisfied when he claimed the UFC heavyweight title.
Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) returned from an over three-year long layoff to submit Ciryl Gane in the first round to capture the vacant heavyweight title at UFC 285 in March 2023.
Gane was a highly touted, former interim heavyweight champion who was coming off a razor-thin loss to Francis Ngannou. But against Jones, Gane quickly found himself in trouble before getting choked out in just over two minutes. Jones was hoping to log in more cage time after so much time off.
“Beating Ciryl Gane was an amazing memory and experience,” Jones told ESPN. “I remember one of the first major feelings I had was a little bit of disappointment. I remember sitting on top of the cage and celebrating my victory, taking a deep breath and thinking, ‘Man, that was fast. That was fast.’
“It was three years leading up to that, a lot of prayer, a lot of meditation, a lot of teamwork, and for it to be over in two minutes and four seconds, I kind of felt robbed in a way. The next emotion that I felt was just gratefulness that I didn’t get hurt and that I did my job, what I came to do, and did it flawlessly. So (I had) mixed emotions – bittersweet.”
How did the moment compare to becoming the youngest UFC light heavyweight champion in history? Jones says it even topped it.
“It felt just as good, but it felt slightly better at the same time just because it had been three years, and I had so many questions about how I would compete after three years off,” Jones said. “And that was the best part of it I guess, just being able to answer all of those questions in one night.”
Jones makes his first heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 309 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Hulu/FX, ESPN+) headliner at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.