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Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Ciryl Gane will battle for the vacant UFC Heavyweight Title in the main event of UFC 285.
It has been over three years since Jones has competed, but Jones says prolonging his debut at heavyweight had nothing to do with money.
“The prolonging of my heavyweight debut had nothing to do with money or being upset with the UFC or anything like that,” Jones told ESPN (transcript via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “I just wanted to be at my best when I did come back, and I felt like I was ready to go about a year ago. We needed to figure out opponents, and there was just a lot of moving parts in the UFC, but now we’re here. We got Ciryl Gane, and I feel like all the stars are just aligned for me right now.”
Jones last competed at UFC 247 in February of 2020, defeating Dominick Reyes by unanimous decision.
The former light heavyweight champion says he has spent the last three years preparing for his heavyweight division debut.
“I started thinking about it the day that I decided that I was going to go up to heavyweight,” Jones said. “My goal for three years now is to become the heavyweight champion of the world. It’s what I pray about, it’s what I sleep on, it’s what I dream about. It is who I am, and I will get it done. I just feel it in my whole being that I’m the best fighter on the planet, and now my job is just to prove it.”
