Jon Jones may have walked away from UFC 285 unscathed, but walked into the bout with some injuries.
In the UFC 285 main event, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones had his first match since vacating his light heavyweight crown in 2020. The US-born athlete faced off against the top-ranked Ciryl Gane. Jones won this match flawlessly with a submission just three minutes into round 1.
Jon Jones injuries ahead of UFC 285
While Jones was perfect inside the octagon, he was struggling in the gym. Now that the match has wrapped, the American athlete has revealed that he was suffering injuries during the training camp which stopped him from sparring leading up to this match. Jones is now expected to return at UFC 290 against Stipe Miocic.
At the UFC 285 post-fight press conference, he explained:
“There’s always a slight feeling out process. I was dealing with a slight injury before this fight, and I didn’t really spar many times. I sparred a total of three times in this training camp. I did a lot of smart drilling, but I didn’t spar a lot.” [Transcript courtesy of MMA News]
What injury he was suffering from what not revealed.
Jon Jones was a long-reigning UFC light heavyweight world champion. The US-born all-time great never lost his title against an opponent in the octagon. He had a very impressive run defeating seven current, former, or future, UFC champions in his career; including Daniel Cormier and Glover Teixeira. ‘Bones’ has made history becoming one of the few two-division world champion in the history of the sport with his impressive win at UFC 285.
See the full press conference below: