Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been threatening to move up to the heavyweight division for years now. It’s been almost three years since his last Octagon appearance, but in this time Jones has added considerable bulk to his 6 ft 4 in frame. Former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges “Rush” St-Pierre told MMAFighting that, when Jones makes his heavyweight debut, “he’s going to be successful”.
“I’ve seen it on the red carpet when I got inducted into the [UFC] Hall of Fame. I took a picture and I put my arm around him, I was like, ‘Man, he’s solid like a rock.’ He’s huge.
GSP Expects “Huge” Jon Jones To Dominate Heavyweights
Jon Jones, he’s solid like a rock, he looked huge. And it looked like he put the weight at the right place. I can’t wait. I’m a fan of Jon Jones, I like to see him fight. I can’t wait to see him come back. A lot of people are like, ‘Yeah, he was out for a long time.’ He was out for a long time, but he’s Jon Jones, you know what I mean? Don’t forget that he’s Jon Jones. He’s arguably the best fighter of all-time too. He can make a comeback and I think he’s going to be successful when he does.”
Both St-Pierre and Jones are considered among MMA fans to be among the greatest to ever grace the sport. Both reigned over their weight divisions for years. St-Pierre managed to secure a second UFC belt in 2017, moving from welterweight up to middleweight, and discussed how difficult he found the move up. GSP believes that Jones has made the shift easier on himself.
“I’ve done it the wrong way. I’ve tried to put on weight. I prepared myself a long time, I tried to eat and put on weight, but with the stress [on my body] it creates problems. If I would have to do it again, if I could come back and tell a younger Georges before he tried to put on weight, I would’ve told him to just stay the way [you were] at your natural weight, because you’re not going to have any health issues and you will perform even probably better. But certain guys have different abilities.
I have a hard time putting on weight, that’s the way my body is; some guys, they can put on weight easier, depending on if you’re an endomorph, mesomorph, ectomorph. A lot of guys have different tools, different ways of doing it, and it’s easier for them.”
Do you believe GSP is right about Jon Jones’ move to heavyweight? Let us know in the comments.
