Former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo has a warning for the big names at the other end of the weight scale. Following UFC heavyweight Ciryl Gane’s stunning victory over Tai Tuivasa at UFC Paris this weekend, Cejudo cautioned former light heavyweight champ – and potential heavyweight debutante – Jon Jones about Gane’s abilities on his YouTube channel.
“I mean, this dude’s a threat for everybody. I immediately texted Jon Jones like, ‘Hey, man, watch out for this dude. You have to really plan for this dude.’ Stipe Miocic who? Ciryl Gane is a big threat. I almost feel like looking at that last fight, he could be a bigger threat than Francis Ngannou for a guy like Jon Jones.”
Cejudo Warns Jon Jones of “Big Threat” Ciryl Gane
The Tuivasa fight marked Gane’s first appearance in the Octagon after his loss to Francis Ngannou in January. Gane was once the UFC interim champion, but Ngannou put an end to that with a suffocating wrestling performance that dominated Gane over the course of five rounds.
Jon Jones, former light heavyweight champ, has long threatened to move up to the 265-pound division, and appears to be on the brink of his heavyweight debut. The likes of Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou have been suggested as potential opponents for Jones, but Henry Cejudo sees Gane as the bigger threat.
In particular, Cejudo cited Gane’s fight IQ and elite striking. The buildup to his knockout victory over Tai Tuivasa – a knockout-happy, highly dangerous fighter in his own right – saw Gane start with body work before landing the head shots that stunned, and eventually finished, Tuivasa. This approach has made him troublesome for every heavyweight except Francis Ngannou, and might cause serious problems for Jon Jones, who is used to opponents up to sixty pounds lighter than “Bon Gamin”.
“What I can appreciate about Gane is that he invested so much of his work to the body to eventually go up then obviously Tai is kind of trying to catch his — he’s just trying to win at the end of the day. If you have to play possum to land a big punch, I get it, but Ciryl Gane is the real deal, man.
Somebody that can chop somebody down like that and eventually finish them that’s the type of stuff that I like to see. Investment in the body, investment in legs, to eventually finish his opponent. Beautiful work.”
Is Henry Cejudo right about Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane? Let us know in the comments.
