NFL
By: Randall Gimm
Some might say that ‘Ring Rust’, or in this case Octogon Rust, will play a factor in Jon Jones‘ return versus Cyril Gane. But, I don’t believe Cyril has experienced anything like Jon Jones, ever before. That fight will take place at UFC 285 this Saturday, March 4th, on ESPN+ Pay Per View. This will be his first fight in 3 years and 24 days.
Cyril’s last fight was against “Bam Bam” Tai Tuivasa in a barn burner. Tai is a swangin and bangin type of fighter and Cyrl is a highly patient and methodical fighter. Tai did score a knockdown against Cyril in their fight and he almost finished the fight. But, it was Cyril that finished the fight via TKO in the third round.
Other notable opponents that Cyril has faced go as follows: Former Heavyweight Champion Francis N’Gannou (Loss Via Unanimous Decision), Derrick Lewis (Win via 3rd round Ground and Pound), Jairzinho Rozenstruik (Won via Unanimous Decision), and Alexander Volkov (Won via Unanimous Decision).
Cyril is 8-1 in the UFC with 4 of those fights going to decision. Of those decision fights he is 3-1. Of all those fighters I mentioned in the previous paragraph, they do not have the level of striking that Jon Jones possesses. The Heavyweight division is a knock-out or get knocked out type of division. The Knock-Out King Derrick Lewis knows about this all too well. Lewis holds the record for most KOs in the UFC with 13 total. But, Lewis is 1-4 in his last five with 3 of those losses coming via KO.
As for Cyril’s skills, they’re nothing to scoff at. Cyril and Jones actually have a similar striking arsenal, but Cyril hasn’t faced anyone like himself and Jones is a lethal version of that. Jones’ elbows, knees, front kicks, and his timing/placement of all of those are so well thought out and so damaging.
In Cyril’s matchup with Francis N’Gannou, Francis debuted his wrestling skills against Cyril which surprised a lot of people. Jon Jones showed he can wrestle with Former Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier. Cormier is a wrestling practitioner and was on the US World/Olympic Team Member 6 times.
On Jones’ Instagram, he was able to run 20 miles per hour with his heavyweight frame in June of 2021. It has been almost two years since this video came out and I doubt he let that be his personal best. In an interview with TMZ he said he is sitting at 250 pounds while Cyril Gane last weighed in at 247 pounds.
I don’t see this fight between Cyril Gane and Jon Jones going to a decision. Right now on Bet-US, the fight is favored to go all Five Rounds at (-140). I’d take Jon Jones to win by KO/TKO/DQ in the 3rd round at +1400. I say that because not only is Jon Jones such a cerebral striker but the way he has taken his time to move his weight up from Light Heavyweight (205lbs) to Heavyweight (265lbs) over three years is exactly what needs to be done to make this move the most efficient.
