Jon Jones defeats Ciryl Gane at UFC 285

Jones winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship

UFC Heavyweight Jon Jones defeats Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 to become the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the world.

The long-anticipated Heavyweight match-up ended quickly when Jones (35) defeated Gane (32) via submission in the first round. Jones had defeated Gane after a three-year layoff from MMA and returned to the Octagon looking better than ever. 

Francis Ngannou, the former UFC Heavyweight Champion who vacated the belt late last year to pursue a career in boxing, tweeted at Jones following Jones' win: 

Good job Jonny Boy 👍

Sincerely,
The heavyweight king

— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) March 5, 2023

In his post-fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan, Jones thanked his family, friends, and God, in helping him stay motivated during the three years he spent out of the Octagon: "I've been working for this for a long time. A lot of people thought I wouldn't even be coming back.

"I've been faithful to my goal, I've been faithful to my mission. There were days when I didn't want to train and I was there.

"I want to thank my family. I want to thank my beautiful fiance Jesse for being my biggest support.

All my teammates back home. All you guys. All you guys who have been there for me. I love you guys."

Jones then proceeded to call out the former UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic, who currently holds the most amount of Heavyweight title defences in the UFC (he defended the belt three times but lost it in 2021 to Francis Ngannou). 

Miocic appeared on Ariel Helwani's "The MMA Hour" yesterday and confirmed that negotiations were already taking place for an anticipated bout between Miocic and Jones. Miocic - who has not fought since losing the Heavyweight belt in 2021 - praised Jones' win but believes Jones did not look good enough to beat him. 

The date for the Moicic vs Jones bout has not yet been announced, but according to Stipe, they are looking to finalise the bout for July this year.