Jon Jones has revealed the reasons why he decided to vacate his light heavyweight title and move up to heavyweight.
Jones will make his heavyweight debut in a vacant title fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, more than three years after his light heavyweight title defence against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 in March 2020, where he won by a controversial decision. The UFC initially wanted to book a super fight between ‘Bones’ and Francis Ngannou, but their plans suffered a major blow when the Cameroonian decided to part ways with the promotion over contractual issues.
Jon Jones On Heavyweight Move
The Albuquerque native went back and forth with the UFC over his contract as well, but he appears to have made bank with a move up to heavyweight. Another reason why he decided to move up in weight was that he didn’t consider light heavyweight a challenge anymore, he said in a recent interview with Jimmy Smith (as transcribed by MMA Fighting).
“I stopped studying footage as much, it started to feel more like another day at the office,” Jones said. “The fear was gone. I didn’t really fear these guys. I wasn’t happy with my pay, either. I’m stuck fighting guys like Reyes — who had been dreaming of fighting me, probably since college, and [he] was just relatively unknown to the general public. I just wanted more, I wanted to be nervous again. I wanted to have fear again. I think fear is healthy, and now we’re in this position. The heavyweight division has never been scarier, and I’m glad to be in the middle of it.”
