Jon Jones walks to his corner in between rounds against Dominick Reyes in their UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout during UFC 247 at Toyota Center on February 08, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Jon Jones is one of the greatest UFC stars of all time but even he needs to improve one aspect ahead of his Heavyweight debut
Brandon Gibson, one of the top coaches at Jackson Wink, was on WERMMA and was asked about Jon Jones and a move up to the Heavyweight division.
Jones is one of the greatest MMA athletes of all time and held the UFC Light Heavyweight title for a long time.
He vacated that crown to move up a division and is now keen on becoming the Heavyweight champion. Stipe Miocic is the current champion in that division and is expected to defend the title against Francis Ngannou next.
However, Jones could be next in line after this bout takes place. Bones, as Jones is called, has been nearly untouchable in his UFC career but his coach confirmed if they were working on any specific aspect of the UFC great’s game:
“You know in heavyweight there is less room for mistakes and for error. Our defence has to be just laser sharp, even if you are in the best defensive position sometimes these guys are so strong like a Ngannou or Stipe or Derrick Lewis they could just blast right through your guard.
“We are really focused on developing our defence to an even greater level and you know, through Jon’s decade of dominance at light heavyweight, he didn’t really take that much damage.”
Gibson was frank enough to admit that Alexander Gustaffson did get some good hits in their first meeting with Jones but most of the other fights had seen the former champ take little damage.
However, he was certain that Jones would bring his quality defence into the heavyweight division easily:
“Jon has a very keen sense of defence, of range, of awareness and I think it’s all going to carry over very well into his heavyweight transition.”
While Gibson was open to this discussion, he didn’t want to divulge too many details. The coach didn’t share how much Jones was weighing now but claimed the former champion was looking great.
Moving up to Heavyweight is a big decision from Jones and it will be interesting to see how he does.
He has dominated the Light Heavyweight division in his career and he has all the tools to become a champion in another division too.
This is an exclusive interview from WERMMA. For more exclusive interviews and content please follow the link.
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