UFC icon cements GOAT status with title win

1 year ago 96

Jon Jones ended a three-year sabbatical from the UFC, moved up to its highest value people and emphatically won the heavyweight loop connected Sunday AEDT with a first-round submission implicit Ciryl Gane.

The 35-year-old Jones took Gane to the mat conscionable a small much into the round, and won with a guillotine choke astatine 2:04 successful UFC 285.

“I'm truthful excited," Jones said. "I've been moving for this for a agelong time. A radical thought I wasn't coming back. I'm been faithful to my goal, faithful to my mission.”

For Jones, this was his archetypal combat successful 3 years and his archetypal successful the heavyweight division. The erstwhile airy heavyweight champion is regarded arsenic UFC's top fighter.

Jones, however, wanted to beryllium helium could beryllium conscionable arsenic palmy astatine the highest weight, and that for definite would erase immoderate remaining doubts astir his spot successful history.

The swiftness of this triumph cemented that legacy.

There were questions whether truthful overmuch clip disconnected would impact Jones’ effectiveness, and helium spent clip astatine his location successful New Mexico to hole for this night. His past combat was successful February 2020 - a unanimous determination implicit Dominick Reyes.

"I had to amusement up and get him down to the ground," Jones said. "I been wrestling since I was 12 years. I consciousness stronger than ever. Once I got him successful my hands, I cognize I could instrumentality control.”

The triumph extended Jones' grounds unbeaten streak to 19, and helium improved to 27-1 with 1 no-contest.

Jones said helium adjacent wants Stipe Miocic, who is the second-ranked contender and who Jones called the top heavyweight ever.

France’s Ciryl Gane, 32, was the top-ranked heavyweight contender. His grounds dropped to 11-2.

In the co-main lawsuit successful a women's bout, sixth-ranked Alexa Grasso (16-3) of Mexico submitted champion Valentina Shevchenko (23-4) Kyrgyzstan by 4:34 astatine of the 4th circular to seizure the belt.

“I consciousness similar this is simply a dream,” Grasso said. “I’ve dreamed of this moment.”

Shevchenko, 34, had won her erstwhile 8 rubric matches and was successful power of this 1 done 3 rounds by dictating the enactment and repeatedly taking Grasso to the floor.

Grasso, however, got Shevchenko to the mat precocious successful the 4th erstwhile the present erstwhile champ went for a backmost kick. Then Grasso, 29, enactment Shevchenko successful a presumption wherever she was forced to pat out.

Middleweight Bo Nickal, 27, won his UFC debut, submitting Jamie Pickett, 34 by limb triangle astatine 2:54 of the archetypal round. Nickal won 3 NCAA wrestling championships astatine Penn State. He moved to 4-0 overall; Pickett is 13-9.

Scenes of the remake of 1989 movie “Road House” were changeable successful betwixt enactment successful the octagon with histrion Jake Gyllenhaal portraying an MMA fighter.

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