Jon Jones’ coach Brandon Gibson has total faith in the former light heavyweight champ’s ability to compete at 265 pounds. Speaking with Submission Radio, and with a potential interim title bout between Jones and Stipe Miocic looking likely before the end of the year, Gibson explained why he believes we’ll see Jon Jones holding UFC gold once again.
Simply put: Brandon Gibson thinks he’s a better heavyweight than Stipe Miocic or Francis Ngannou.
Coach: “There’s Nobody Like Jon Jones at Heavyweight”
“Stipe’s the greatest UFC champion in heavyweight history.
Very well rounded, lots of championship experience. He’s shown so much resiliency like in the trilogy with [Daniel Cormier] and his ability to come back. And Stipe has a victory over Francis as well.
He’s a great, well-rounded martial artist, who’s powerful, who has devastating knockout power in both hands. And then Francis just has that X-factor. His size, his strength, and he can sleep anybody, from any stance, from any angle. He doesn’t need to be balanced or be punching off his back foot. It doesn’t matter.
They both have their challenges and their own unique ways, and we’re going to have to take each of them very differently. Very differently.
But Jon Jones has the skill set to get his hand raised in both of those bouts.
There’s no doubt in my mind about it. There’s nobody like Jon at heavyweight. Nobody as dynamic, as fast, as gifted in all the disciplines like Jon is. And his IQ is off the chart. Not to say that these other guys aren’t smart, brilliant fighters, but Jon Jones’ IQ and comprehension of his game is unlike anybody else’s in the world.”
Jon Jones is widely considered one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, and one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time. His reputation remains marred by run-ins with the law – including a hit-and-run on a pregnant woman, and his recent arrest for domestic violence – and repeated doping violations. His reign as 205-pound champion was one of the greatest in UFC history, and he’ll need to seriously step up his game both inside and outside the Octagon to compete with the elite at 265 pounds.
“You think of fighters going up in a weight class and they always put on size and mass and power. You look at Conor [McGregor] from his 145 days, going up to lightweight, going up to welterweight and that’s a 25-pound difference. Jon Jones, his weight is up there right now and it’s much more than 25 pounds. So he is hitting extremely hard and extremely accurate and technical and fast.
I’ve trained a lot of amazing heavyweights. I’ve trained [Andrei] Arlovski and [Alistair] Overeem and Frank Mir and Travis Browne, and Jon Jones is more powerful, explosive, creative, dynamic than all of them. So I can’t wait to see Jon make that walk at heavyweight. It’s gonna be something truly, truly special, and I’m humbled to be a part of it.”
