Ciryl Gane's coach believes Jon Jones will weigh heavier than his fighter for their UFC heavyweight title fight.
Jones, 35, makes his heavyweight debut on Saturday as he faces Gane for the division's undisputed title at UFC 285 in Las Vegas. The former light-heavyweight ruler has been preparing for a move up to heavyweight for three years and his physique has considerably changed since his last fight against Dominick Reyes in February 2020.
Gane has weighed in at 247lb for his last three fights and his coach Fernand Lopez thinks Jones, who is widely considered the greatest MMA fighter of all-time, will step on the scale heavier than 'Bon Gamin' on Friday afternoon. Lopez admitted that 'Bones' will have an advantage over Gane on the ground if he is heavier, but thinks Jones' added weight will make him gas out quicker for as long as their fight stays on the feet.
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"According to the video that I'm seeing, yes I think that Jon Jones will be heavier than Ciryl," Lopez told Mirror Fighting. "Of course the weight will matter, whenever you are getting into contact and wrestling, if Jon Jones gets on top of Ciryl then the weight will matter. That's what happened when Ciryl fought Francis [Ngannou].
"Jon Jones was preparing to fight Francis, so of course he was bulking up and making sure that he would be heavier. I think he will be heavier than Ciryl. The more the fight stays on the ground, the more he will wear down Ciryl. The more the fight stays on the feet, then Ciryl will wear him down.
"That's a fact, that's just physics. If you're on your feet and you have to carry your own weight, then you will start to gas out a little bit more," Lopez added. "If you go on the horizontal and someone is carrying your weight, they will find out how hard it is. So we'll see in the fight how it goes."
It's unclear how much Jones currently weighs with his fight against Gane just days away, but the American did give some insight about his weight after being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in September 2021. Jones revealed he weighed 255lb which is a massive 50lb more than he weighed during his days as a light-heavyweight fighter. 'Bones' also stated that he wanted to bulk up to 270lb before making his heavyweight debut, meaning he would need to cut 5lb to make the 265lb weight limit for the weight class.
