Michael Bisping takes a look at if and how the time away from fighting will affect Jon Jones in his return.
The biggest news in MMA came over the weekend when the UFC announced that after a long hiatus, former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will be making his return. He will be making his heavyweight debut in March against former title challenger, Ciryl Gane. This will be a tough test for Jones and many fans and analysts have been taking a look at this matchup, including Michael Bisping. He took to his YouTube channel to give his thoughts on this matchup.
Bisping believes that this will be a tough test for Gane and although he sees some advantages for Gane, the state in which Jones shows up could be the deciding factor.
“Now he is going up against the greatest of all time. How do I see that fight going down? Well, I’ll make an early prediction,” he said. “The problem for Ciryl Gane, listen, he’s big, and he’ll have the longest reach that Jones has ever faced. Cyril Gane, his reach is 81 inches, as I said, the longest that Jones has ever faced, that could cause him some problems. Certainly, when you look at Ciryl Gane, he’s very light on his feet, he moves like a middleweight, has tremendous footwork in and out, nice long job, great combinations, very agile, very dynamic in his approach, but compared to Jon Jones in terms of experience, and in terms of well-roundedness he’s certainly at a deficit. Now that doesn’t mean he loses but one would imagine at this early stage, according to the bookies, that Ciryl Gane will be the underdog.”
Michael Bisping takes a look at the possibility of Jon Jones returning with “ring rust”
Jones took more than two years away from competition to bulk up and get ready for his heavyweight debut. Bisping takes a look at the possibility of rig rust in Jones’ return. He explained that although Jones has been sparring throughout his time away and has continued to train, the feeling that one gets when walking to the cage and preparing for an actual fight with the title on the line is different.
“Now there’s a lot of questions. Jones is coming back after a three-year hiatus,” he said. “We’ll have some ring rust? Three years is a long time… I don’t think he will. I think Jon is so experienced. I think he’s so good. And I think he’s so mentally strong that none of those things will be a factor.”
Bisping is predicting that Jones will be the favorite in the books and he agrees with that totally. Much like the rest of the MMA community, Bisping is very much looking forward to this matchup. This bout was only just announced, so expect there to be much more news surrounding Jones’ physical and mental readiness leading up to the fight.
