Chael Sonnen is no stranger to Jon Jones. The pair have shared the Octagon with one another with UFC gold on the line, and also coached opposite one another on a season of The Ultimate Fighter several years ago. Since, Sonnen and Jones have exchanged barbs from time to time via social media, letting it known that there’s certainly no love lost between the pair since their fight.
Now, Sonnen has taken to his podcast to break down Jones’ upcoming debut in the UFC’s heavyweight division. Jones will headline UFC 285 in March against Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight strap. However, as the fight approaches, Sonnen explains an element of Jones’ promotion for the fight is “narcissistic” in nature. That being his refusal to share his weight ahead of the contest.
Chael Sonnen Explains Why Jon Jones Is Acting “Narcissistic”
“Now Jon has done one thing that is very beautiful, and again, this comes form the narcissistic side. But the narcissist got this one. I thought it was beautiful. He said, ‘I’m not going to tell you what I weigh.’ He’s said ‘I’m not going to tell anyone what I weigh, I want it to be a surprise,’ for surreal. I liked that. Why won’t he tell us what he weighs? Why wouldn’t he let that be a little bit of a guess? And there’s not very many times that that’s interesting, but it has been interesting.”
“Weight sometimes is interesting,” Sonnen said. “Not very often, but it is sometimes. And when we’ve never seen Jon Jones at heavyweight, it does matter. Any way you want to do it it matters. Jon told us he wants to be at 240 pounds. We’ve seen him on Instagram at 242 pounds. That’s interesting. Now I don’t know that I personally believe that Jon Jones can hold that weight and go through an appropriate training camp. Tough to do. But Jon let us know that 240 is psychologically what he needs.”
Jones hasn’t fought inside the Octagon since February 2020 when he successfully defended his then-light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes. Since, Jones has been on a long layoff, embroiled in contract negotiations with the UFC over his heavyweight debut.
Now, those issues seem to be behind them, as Jones will face Gane in one of the most highly-anticipated divisional debuts in the sport’s history. All the action will go down on March 4 with a card that is expected to feature three title fights in total.
