Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Gordon Ryan has detailed why Jon Jones called upon him for some assistance ahead of UFC 295.
Jones is scheduled to put his UFC Heavyweight Championship at stake against Stipe Miocic on November 11. The title fight, which will be held inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, will be Jones’ first heavyweight title defense. “Bones” captured the gold back in March, submitting Ciryl Gane in the first round.
Recently, fight fans were pleasantly surprised to see Jones rolling with Gordon Ryan in preparation for the Miocic fight. Many wondered why the pound-for-pound GOAT sought after the services of Ryan, however, when Miocic hasn’t been known to be a jiu-jitsu player.
Ryan admits that he doesn’t view Miocic as a grappling specialist in MMA.
“Stipe, there’s nothing really special that he does as an MMA grappler,” Ryan said.
Gordon Ryan On Why Jon Jones Wanted His Help
Speaking to Luke Thomas of Morning Kombat, Gordon Ryan shared his theory on why Jones sought his assistance ahead of UFC 295.
“He’s [Miocic] kind of just like a good, generic, all-around guy,” Ryan said. “Obviously, Jon studies a lot of tape on him, as well. I think that Jon kind of, at this point, is just interested in doing things that he wants to improve on as an athlete himself. If there was one thing that I saw that Stipe did that was dangerous to Jon or that I think could give Jon problems, then I would force Jon to be in those positions, but Stipe’s not known as like a super dangerous grappler. So, I think it’s just overall Jon is trying to improve as an athlete.”
Ryan went on to compare Jon Jones to a fellow all-time great in the world of MMA.
“Jon is a lot like GSP,” Ryan said. “He’s not the best wrestler in the world, he’s not the best striker in the world, he’s not the best at jiu-jitsu in the world, but when it’s time to put things all together, just like Georges, he does it better than anybody else in the world.”
Ryan admitted that Jones’ ability to learn moves even this late in his combat sports career impressed him. He also said that “Bones” has a knack for changing pace and game plans intuitively.
Will Ryan Be In Jones’ Corner?
As far as whether or not Ryan will be cornering “Bones” on fight night is concerned, the BJJ legend isn’t so sure.
“I don’t think I’m going to be in his corner,” Ryan said. “I don’t really know if there’s any need for that. If he wants me to be in his corner I’d be more than happy to, but he has jiu-jitsu coaches and I think that they can tell him the information that he needs if he needs grappling coaching.”
Here is Morning Kombat’s full interview with Gordon Ryan:
