United Fighting Championship icon Jon 'Bones' Jones will make his long-awaited return to the octagon against number one ranked heavyweight Cyril Gane.
It is now three years since Jones last fought, where he defeated Dominick Reyes at UFC 247. It was a hugely controversial decision, where a lot of fans thought Reyes came away the better fighter. One viewer wrote: "If Jon did exactly what Reyes did and Reyes did exactly what Jon did , Jon would have won.".
Gane fought fairly recently, defeating Tai Tuivasa in a UFC classic in Paris during September. Earlier in 2022, Gane faced superstar Francis Ngannou, where he lost after a night of grappling in the octagon. Jones on the other hand hasn't lost a bout since 2009, in one of his earliest UFC fights against Mark Hamill. Since then, he has won 17 fights in a row, if you discount the no contest decision against Daniel Cormier six years ago.
The heavyweight title is currently vacant, so the pair will be facing off to secure that honour.
What time does the fight start?
The main card action will start at roughly 3am UK time on Sunday, March 4th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas
How can I watch the fight?
The fight will be broadcast live for free on BT Sport 1 from 12.30am.
You can also live stream the fight using the BT Sport app on your phone, tablet or desktop. To sign up for BT Sport, click here. A monthly pass costs £29.99, and gives you a plethora of sporting action including Premier League and Champions League football.
Who's on the undercard?
Main card
MAIN EVENT: Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane – for vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship
- Valentina Shevchenko (c) vs Alexa Grasso – for UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship
- Geoff Neal vs Shavkat Rakhmonov
- Mateusz Gamrot vs Jalin Turner
- Bo Nickal vs Jamie Pickett
Preliminary card
- Cody Garbrandt vs Trevin Jones
- Derek Brunson vs Dricus du Plessis
- Viviane Araujo vs Amanda Ribas
- Julian Marquez vs Marc-Andre Barriault
How much prize money is up for grabs?
So far it is unclear how much each fighter will earn. However, you can get a gauge of prize money by comparing previous fight purses.
When Jones signed up for this massive bout, it was an eight fight contract that made him the highest paid heavyweight athlete. Overall he is the second highest earner after Conor McGregor, according to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who told this to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.
According to Sporting News, in the Reyes fight Jones picked up a cool $540,000 (£450K), which includes bonuses. His biggest fight purse so far was $580,000 (£484K) against Cormier in 2017, where the fight was deemed a no contest after Jones tested positive for Turinabol, a steroid.
According to MMA Fighting, Gane took home $500,000 (£417K). This is huge in comparison to his previous fight, where he earned just $6,000 (£5K) against Tai Tuivasa. However he also got the Fight Of The Night bonus of $50,000 (£41K).
With a fight of this magnitude, it would not be unreasonable to assume that the fight purse would be similar to the Ngannou v Gane fight, so roughly $500,000 ($417K) each.
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