Jon Jones blew through Ciryl Gane in roughly two minutes at UFC 285 in March 2023.
“Bones’” expedited beatdown is the reason former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, tucked tail and ran from the world’s preeminent mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, opting to sign with Professional Fighters League (PFL) later that year.
That’s according to UFC CEO Dana White.
“He went through Ciryl Gane like that — easily,” White said on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “In my opinion, he does the same thing to Francis. 100 percent. Francis didn’t want to fight Jon Jones, the scariest, most bad-ass fighter of all time. Jon Jones has his issues outside of the Octagon, which actually makes it more impressive if you think about the lifestyle that he was living, and doing this to the best fighters in the world. Jon Jones is one of those guys that won’t truly be appreciated until he’s gone. But I’m telling you right now, when you talk about who the baddest man on the planet is — two guys get locked in a room, who is walking out? It’s f*cking Jon Jones all day, every time.”
If Ngannou was running from Jones then Jones was running from Dominick Reyes.
It wasn’t that long ago when White was suggesting that Jones was the one pricing himself out of the Ngannou super fight, an “absurd lie” that “Bones” quickly shot down. To be fair, “The Predator” was aligned with his heavyweight rival when it came to paltry payouts.
Leading fans to wonder … did either of them really want to fight?