“These guys are intimidating,” Jones told ESPN. “They’re intimidating as shit.”
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who vacated his title earlier this year to pursue a belt in the 265-pound weight class, understands that he’ll no longer have a significant size advantage in his new division.
That’s why he’s living in the weight room and packing on the pounds.
But “Bones” plans to do more than just look swole, he also wants to restore power and agility to his lower half. The end goal is a more wrestling-based attack, like the one he employed as UCO championship wrestler back in his college days.
“Now that I’ve been working on my legs so much and they’ve gotten thicker … I think that’s going to translate into me shooting high-crotches and shooting double-legs,” Jones told ESPN. “I think it’ll make those muscles a lot faster. I predict that my shooting ability and my wrestling is going to just be faster. There’s just more power, and my ass has gotten a lot bigger. I think my double-legs are going to be one of the biggest differences in my game that people are going to notice.”
Jones has been teasing a trip up to the heavyweight division for several years and at one point, was expected to fight Stipe Miocic for the division title. Unfortunately, “Bones” has suffered multiple career setbacks (of his own doing) and always had unfinished business upon his return.
Like settling this old score.
As of this writing, the 33 year-old Jones does not have a date or opponent planned for his heavyweight debut, though it should be noted that middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is hoping to secure a super fight against “Bones” at some point in 2021, assuming he gets past this guy.