Before this weekend’s UFC285 heavyweight match in Las Vegas, Jon Jones, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, and Ciryl Gane, both made weight on Friday (March 3).
Jones is making his three-year sabbatical from the octagon in an attempt to re-establish his status as the best fighter of all time, despite his many difficulties.
Despite not competing since defeating Dominick Reyes in February 2020, the 35-year-old will get an instant crack at the heavyweight title against France’s Gane, which says a lot about his standing in the sport.
Although being unquestionably one of the most gifted athletes to don a pair of four-ounce MMA gloves, Jones has frequently been his own worst enemy due to negative drug tests and behavior outside of the ring that has tarnished his reputation.
After a hit-and-run incident involving a pregnant woman in 2015, the New York native had his light heavyweight title stripped. In 2016, he also received a year-long suspension for a positive drug test.
He tested positive once more in 2017, this time for the steroid Turinabol, although the UFC always welcomed him back after his suspension had expired.
Before a domestic abuse allegation in Las Vegas in 2021, which led to him pleading no contest to a charge of interfering with a police vehicle during his arrest, he appeared to be holding it together. In 2018, he defeated Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson to win back the belt.
Conor McGregor made an unexpected cameo
One of the most infamous personalities in sports will get another shot on Saturday, and if the bulked-up Jones wins, his name will be mentioned in talks about the current best in the world.
After the Jones and Gane weigh-in, Conor McGregor made an unexpected cameo, taking the stage to the applause of the audience to promote a movie he is producing with actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
