By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
One of the best Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) practitioners to ever set foot in the octagon will be making his highly-anticipated return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on March 4, 2023.
Jon “Bones” Jones is back.
After almost three years of hiatus since dominating Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, the former light heavyweight champion announced his comeback fight to be held in Las Vegas.
This will not only mark Jones’ return in the octagon but also his debut fight in the heavyweight division when he was tasked to square off against former interim champion Ciryl Gane for the vacant belt.
Originally, UFC president Dana White offered Jones a fight with champion Francis Ngannou but the Nigerian knockout artist recently announced his departure from the league.
Now that the heavyweight belt is vacant, White gave Jones Gane, the current no. 1 challenger in the division who holds an outstanding record of 11 wins and one loss.
Gane’s only loss was against Ngannou when they clashed for the heavyweight belt one year ago during the main event of UFC 270.
Despite Gane’s technical striking approach which proved to be effective in the first two rounds, Ngannou was able to switch his game plan and went for a dominating control of the ground game.
Gane then bounced back with a huge win after his loss to Ngannou when he knocked Tai Tuivasa out in the third round of their fight.
On the other hand, Jones will be transitioning from a light heavyweight to a heavyweight and is still confident that he can deliver and knock people out.
Jones already hinted about his UFC return last year and was always posting his heavyweight workouts on his social media accounts.
Can Jones pass his first major test and clinch the championship belt of the heavyweight division? Or will Gane spoil his highly-anticipated debut?
