Brendan Fitzgerald and Sayif Saud preview the UFC 285 main event title fight between Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane. UFC 285 main …
[Music] foreign heavyweight title is on the line at UFC 285 in Las Vegas it’s the much anticipated heavyweight debut for Jon Jones one of the greatest of all time on the other side is the top ranked heavyweight zero gone here to break it down as the general safe side many people been waiting for this matchup for a while indeed they have Brennan a three-year Hiatus from the light heavyweight goat Jon Jones we know what he’s going to bring to the table with a fight IQ the incredible Championship experience the skill set that we saw for so many years dominate the light heavyweight division but he’ll be facing a formidable challenge in serial gone Cyril a former interim Champion incredible Mobility incredible footwork Precision striking with a lot of power as well how is John going to match up at heavyweight we need to see these guys have a lot of similarities Brennan they throw a lot of the same techniques with the kicking the stance switching the ambidextrous skill set really neat to see how John looks at heavyweight and is he powerful enough is he quick enough is Cyril going to be able to stop John’s wrestling can can’t wait to watch it on full T-Mobile March 4th uh we’ve seen a lot of Fighters jump weight classes before this is a whole new ball game when you go from 205 pounds and you can weigh up to 265 for a title fight let’s go into fight Focus as we dive into things here and we’ll start with Jon Jones you said at the light heavyweight goat there’s really no debate at who the greatest of all time is in that Division and uh striking at distance his body size was a big reason why Jon Jones 84.5 inch reach the longest in the UFC the guy is a master of striking at distance he has perfected this over all these championship fights let’s take a look at some of the things he does from distance with his striking John one of the biggest things he does he’s always measuring he’s always touching and measuring his opponents the reason he does this is once he gets his measurement I’m 84.5 inches I know where you are I know I can hit you but you can’t hit me and we’re gonna see this over and over again from John so here’s that little touch right he gets that little touch to see where you are Gus knows that kind of knocks it out of the way well John sees it fires that shot comes back in fires the kick and he’s on the way out let’s break down what’s happening here so we talked about John getting that touch and feeling that range so we’re going to see him right here there’s that touch right when he touches he establishes that range he knows he can fire and you’ll see this over and over again from John he will fire straight off of that right into the shop lands the left hand beautifully backs up just a little bit there’s the range finder again on the exit as Gus starts to come in you’ll see perfect front kick placement and watch John again on the exit there’s that hand again so not only will he touch on the entry but he’ll touch on the exit to see where am I at where’s my range he’s mastered this this does land into some I poke sometimes it’s been controversial but that’s really kind of what he’s doing he’s always trying to find his range so look for him to do that over and over again against Cyril who also does it as well let’s break this down here Brendan not a lot of people do this technique but it’s something that John does often it’s a lead leg sidekick and he uses this to stop his opponents from coming forward and taking that space now we’re gonna watch what he does to Dom Ray is here Dom is in a southpaw stance and as Dom tries to come forward he loads the leg so here’s the load right the hips are all loaded right here he’s going to take all that force and he’s going to stomp downwards right on that knee and he hyper extends Dom’s knee here full hyperextension of that knee and it’s very very dangerous as far as it can take the knee out it can hurt the opponent it’s one of those things that he’s well known for also Cyril does this as well which we’ll look at stops that forward movement very very well executed here by John curious against DC and here’s how John uses his length this is the second time they fought DC studied them an incredible MMA mind himself he knows all the little tricks that John’s going to try to utilize he understands what John does with the hand grabbing and we’re going to see this when we roll This tape over and over again but John still finds ways to win and that’s what a champion does here let’s watch John here he’s going to throw this jab out here and occupy the hands DC’s hands come up right he doesn’t quite know is he getting a feeler am I getting a rangefinder am I throwing a punch DC’s hands come up John knows that so now John goes low and as he goes low we see DC’s hands DC also goes low with his hands leaving his face completely exposed John sees that he’s going to come over the top with this overhand he’s going to catch DC it’s more of a clubbing overhand but he catches DC and he shows us that ability to go high low with his hands too getting his opponents occupied worried about what’s coming either the kick is coming underneath or the hands are coming over the top beautiful high low here fulls DC catches him cleanly here he is again with DC and you can see John here he’s always touching always measuring so when you watch this and you see where John is and where DC is it doesn’t really look like he’s in kicking range they’re pretty close to each other at least not for a head kick well at least that’s what DC thought watch what John does here as he throws this kick we’re going to see DC’s reaction right here he does the same thing he reacts with the hands just like he did earlier thinking it was a body kick he gets his body all the way out of the way right all the way out of the way but at the last minute you know he realizes what’s about to happen because look at his face he’s preparing for impact before he even gets hit so he realizes at the last moment but he’s moving out of the way again John setting traps with his hands setting traps with his levels and this kick lands flush on DC touches him hurts him badly sends him reeling John follows them with that little trip we all know this scenario the jump knee then John jumps on him John was so much Championship experience when he gets somebody hurt he pounces on him and he finds the finish here against DC but it all started from that beautiful head kick that he set up at a very very close range very very tricky stuff with John so Anthony Smith an analyst a smart guy again all these guys that fight John they study all the film all the tape they all say the same thing man I don’t know when you get in there it’s just different every one of them says the same thing about John I don’t know what it is about him it’s just different and this is what he does so here’s a little range finder from John Anthony Smith sees that and he goes oh no no no I know what that is I know when you touch something’s coming after that so Anthony Smith takes a step back well John realizes that so watch what John does here he’s gonna step through here there’s a little touch again he’s still not at his he’s gonna step through here and land this big lead sidekick and I want you to see this extension here look at how freaking long Jon Jones Is Here and how he can attack with his legs I mean his head is way over here so if you try to play the game of getting away from him he’s got even longer attacks that he can do by sliding his body lead leg sidekick a long side kick to the chest too he touches Anthony from 10 feet across the Octagon here with that beautiful job making the adjustment showing him oh you don’t want to stay in the range that I want I’m gonna come after you and get you with my long legs nice work here by John so after he gets that sidekick Anthony comes back and he said all right okay that sucked and he’s like oh well it’s not over yet let me land that leg kick right to your leg so John will add on as well if you come back into his range and here’s another good example again playing the range game Anthony knows I don’t want to be in this range with you he understands so he tries to retreat he tries to Circle away you’re gonna see him try to Circle this way away from John away from the power side John is standing Southpaw Anthony knows all right I need to get out of here left kick left hand I don’t want to be around this so as he starts to back up there’s a little faint from John right Anthony is like no Anthony’s looking he’s seeing where the danger is he’s trying to make the reads he understands again he needs to go this way he needs to get away from John right still the same danger with the Southpaw with the leg and with the hand watch what John does here John is going to spin and land a perfect spinning kick right to the body I mean and when you see this these are heels that are landing here guys and this hurts I mean d this hurts a lot right to the solar plexus right to the chest a hard shot full extension again finding my range you want to run away from me you want to go over there no problem I’m going to touch you with these legs so super creative stuff John is amazing at striking at distance spinning attacks front side kicks long kicks Jon Jones gonna touch you from distance incredible striking at range on the other side of surrogant and he made his name as a striker he was only 3-0 as a mixed martial artist when he joined the UFC but his background in Striking is ultimately what kept him at the top level no matter where he fights that’s right Brennan and precision striking out of Cyril where he’s a talented kickboxer with excellent fluidity speed he could pop the jab from the outside but he can also land his power shots with real Precision when he needs to let’s break this down and take a look at some of the things that Cyril does again there’s some similarities here and I want you to pay attention to this he will look down right and as he looks down what he kicks up and we see this a lot in kickboxing a quick look down and get your opponent going what are you doing and then you come back up top well this is what he does to Ty he gives him a quick look down and then just wraps this leg right around his head and you can see this impact and Ty makes the read but he just makes it a second too late and it was that quick little shift down a quick little look down give him something to think about perfect contact excellent kick that’s not it ties hurt but we know something about taito Vasa he’s a goer right so he’s stumbling around he always does this when he gets hurt Cyril comes in he throws that big overhand fine all right I’m not going out without a fight and Cyril knows this so boom let me swing and then he’s like you know what let me step back I don’t want to get in a brawl with tied to a Vasa not a good idea and we’re going to see Cyril here again with his calculation okay he’s such a calculated Striker wow Here We Go Again Brendan here it is again where’s he looking down down he’s always doing this he’s always looking down creating all these little things and let’s look at Ty here Ty after getting that head kick he’s looking right at him like what are you doing what is this guy doing so it’s the second time in a row now that he has looked down all right well what do you think is going to follow I look down and I come straight up beautiful front kick right to the face again the Precision to not even look at your opponent in real time and land these strikes right to the face with his legs nonetheless a man this size very impressive stuff hit some of that beautiful front kick and then he’s not done yet super precise here let’s watch him again as Cheryl advances he’s coming forward Ty’s like what is this guy gonna do oh there it is again there’s that look off he’s constantly playing games with his opponent so you can see him look off again he’s looking down and Ty is looking at him again are you gonna kick is another kick coming it’s probably another kick right wrong and end isn’t a kick perfect left hand right on the chin Cyril gone very precise very very good with his Tools in all positions touches him here slip slip he’s out Precision striking we see Cyril he’s here right now and he is in a southpaw stance he’s popping his jab he is not winning the foot battle here though which is something that we need to look at and he makes this adjustment because he understands it as Ty comes forward Cyril’s in the a Zone he kind of throws that check hook but he realizes I’m not in a good spot so he does this little step back and when he steps back you can see he switches to Orthodox as he slides back he switches his stance to Orthodox which puts them in perfect position as tie over commits to land this perfect right hand and he Nails this right hand Ty went past him he swiveled position switched Orthodox lands his beautiful right hand hurts Ty badly follows up with a big hook and you could just see Power in both hands here gets the Finish one of the best strikes that Cyril has is the jab and great Strikers usually have a great jab he Sprints into the ship he pops into it he kind of explodes into it and you’ll see this here with Derek Lewis he’s going to Sprint into this Jab touch him hurt him right in the eye right and Derek Lewis is a tough guy he doesn’t turn around for nothing and you’re going to see Derek he kind of turns around he’s kind of trying to run away and it was that jab that stung him and that’s important Cyril’s gonna have to use that jab on John he’s going to have to touch him with that jab and make him respect his strikes otherwise John’s going to keep on measuring like we showed earlier getting his distance and kind of coming at him like a wave of water right so here we see Cyril gets him hurt with the jab there’s the uppercut he posts on the head this just shows his ability with both sides I mean he lets his hands go and he’s got power in both hands similar to John he’s playing the range game at 81 inches Cyril has been longer than everybody he’s fought volkov even though he’s so long and so tall he’s only 80 inches in the arms so this is going to be the first time that we see Cyril finding someone longer than him which matters because they do a lot of the same things so here’s that touch so he’s got he’s gonna get his range here and then let’s just see if we can get an old trick here there we go again where are we looking down so he constantly is looking down and I’m sure the Jones Camp has probably studied that and see it uh I don’t know if he’s going to try that on John John is a very intricate Striker as well but he may I mean it’s obviously something that he goes to a lot so there’s that touch there’s that look down usually when I look down what’s coming after that and he leans forward into it eyes were still down and Derek sees it at the right at the end but it doesn’t matter he still catches him in the head Here Comes Derek again he goes you know what I don’t need a brawl here I gotta get out of here pushes off resets himself and we’re going to see this again we spoke about it just a second ago this is one of his best shots that Precision jab he steps back he gets his range boom touches Derek hard with that jab to the eye and watch Derek again you’ll see him there it is that’s the punch that hurt him right so that decision for him not to brawl to back up get that jab range again lands that perfect jab hurts Derek backs them up and that’s all she wrote after that he jumps on him finds the finish here against a very tough durable Derrick Lewis again with that Precision jab that he throws from the outside and let’s see him here against JDS we’re going to watch what he does here with his lead hand look at that Jab and when you look at this jab on full extension right 81 inches is a lot and he uses every bit of it the way he Sprints in but look again stepping on the foot a little old school trick I don’t know if he did it on purpose but we know he’s winning the foot battle literally yeah right because he’s got the outside track JDS can’t move I don’t know if he was trying to do it on purpose or not but it’s definitely great to point out that he is winning the foot battle indeed and let’s watch JDS again he hits guys with that jab and what they back up I mean it’s like a power shot all he did was hit him with that jab and JDS tough former Champion backs it all the way up to the cage so that jab has got a lot of pop and a lot of power and it’s something that we’re going to have to really watch him execute He’s listed as an orthodox fighter but he fights Southpaw a lot probably because he’s right-handed so he has a lot of power in that right hand that’s why he wants to put it up front and use it as the lead and here he does it again with great Effectiveness gets JDS hurt here comes the big knee and then man let’s watch this big elbow over the top there was some controversy here it does look like it hits the ear there’s that frame big elbow right over the top drops JDS hurts him and that’s the end of the fight so Precision Power striking and speed here from Cyril gone from the outside from the inside all over the octagon and the size is just such the X Factor that you don’t know how Jon Jones is going to react to somebody because you ever stood next to Cyril gone it’s a whole new ball game in terms of the type of athlete he’s a big boy you touched on kicks but we’re going to dive deeper into kicks because obviously it’s something that he’s been decorated in for a long time since before he was an MMA fighter absolutely right such a Nimble guy for this size I mean it’s almost uncanny he’s developed a devastating kicking game he can throw from both sides let’s watch how he employs this beautiful stuff here from Cyril gone so here we go we see him playing the touch game here against with Ty a little bit of touch touch and we’re going to see that step in Pop That jab that’s the center of his offense he uses it all the time but if you see here he’s right in the a Zone here right here’s where all the bad stuff happens and when you’re fighting a guy like Ty 2 avasa you do not want to stand in front of him so you’re going to see Cyril understand that and he’s gonna play that foot game and try to get outside of the lead leg okay and we’re gonna watch him drift here here comes the drift and he understands that drift step drift step drift step stop now you can see just by a hair what he gets right outside of that sets him up opens his hips up so he can land this beautiful head kick and he wraps this thing right on there perfect execution right lands that head kick opens his hips up very fast too he’s very very quick at this he’s going to Spring and again there’s one more jab and he slides out of the way so Cyril’s getting his range he’s getting his distance and here it comes he fires this let’s take a look at this our man tied to avasa this is our Strike Zone here on Thai right and Cyril is letting this front kick fly and he uses it kind of like a jab and he just digs those toes right in there right and I mean if you’ve ever been front kicked with toes it doesn’t feel good Brendan I promise you that he lands this front kick right with the toes and you’re gonna watch Ty here he’s gonna complain say it’s low no no no no no cereal says no no that ain’t low and we know it’s not low because we just slowed it down so amazing front kick so here we go with Cyril he’s here with Ty Ty throws big punches he slips out of the way lands some big damaging kicks but let’s break this down so Ty throws this big overhand right here to cereal right and again when you’re in the a Zone with Ty to avasa you can’t play games he will put you down and that’s a fact and Cyril knows that so you’re gonna watch Cyril he’s gonna slip out of the way here he understands the danger and then let’s stop Ty over commits with these punches and he ends up in a bad spot and you can see her see Cyril gone right here he understands oh I’ve got an opening here and he uncorks that left leg and he hurts Tai with this huge body kick I mean when you see that that is just all Shin coming in right here this is where you want to land you want to land those kicks with the shin not with the foot all that force behind it and when you look at the size of this guy’s legs too I mean that’s a lot of mass coming at you also with speed which is really the critical piece we’ve never seen someone this big move that quickly hit someone with a huge body kick folds tie over there’s one more but let’s watch this this guy’s amazing watch this flying double knee jump and watch the placement here boom again he just stayed on that body work big time just kept banging the body with Ty heard some of that double knee beautiful work with the legs Falls with an uppercut so here he is he’s in the a Zone he’s right in front of Francis and Francis in this position is an orthodox fighter we know Francis got tremendous power he is not a guy that you want to stand in front of and Cyril knows that so Cyril is going to slide off angle away from the power side then he’s gonna stop right he gets Francis to follow him and start to turn watch him on court this beautiful spinning heel kick oh again I was telling you about the toes now let me tell you about the heel you get hit with a with a spinning heel kick that’s full extension as well when you see this again all that Force right the hip all that power and those gigantic legs driving backwards with that heel kick he hits Francis perfectly this really impressed me about Francis just shakes this thing off just comes right back at him but that kick is tremendous very very painful and his ability to spin that quick as he reset the middle was amazing we know he can spin well let’s watch this spin let’s take a look at where he’s at first we find a theme here and uh hopefully they’re not mad at me for showing this because he starts looking down he’s going to get hit by John so you look at Cyril again where is he looking down whenever Cyril looks down we’ve got this pattern that comes he always kicks up but we don’t know how he’s going to kick up watch what he does here and this small tiny space Cyril gone throws a wheel kick with the heel right Francis and ganu is a gigantic man right if France is a guy who’s this close to you and you’re like hey I’m gonna throw a spinning wheel kick right here that’s perfect not only does he throw it but what he lands it Francis folds into it calls what crashing in which is what we want you want to crash in he doesn’t get the brunt of it right he kind of gets it not at full extension as we see and he just kind of walks through it but it just shows the Nimble nature of this giant man is amazing for him to throw that Spinning Wheel kick so well so fast at that close to range incredible stuff so here we see Cyril is Southpaw right and for once Cyril’s not the one looking down it’s volkov volkov is looking at his stance he’s checking it out all right what’s my dangers Southpaw left hand left kick that we’ve seen tons of beautiful left kicks from him volkov’s making his reads Cheryl goes oh all right let me change the picture real fast switches The Stance now you can see that he has switched his stance to Orthodox creates just enough space he’s going to take a moment he’s going to step back and he’s going to uncork a perfect front kick right into that Target Zone boom right so he uses his legs he switches stances he will attack from the lead leg with the front kick the flip kick we saw against Ty or he’ll switch stances and attack with the rear leg also with that teep very very effective great body work excellent kicking here and finally let’s take a look at this I had to put this in here man this looks similar doesn’t it let me grab the arm I’m going to grab the arm here and I’m going to use my lead leg let’s watch this lead leg again we talked about this not a lot of people do this here is the lead lead sidekick he throws he threw this against rosenstruck he throws it a lot similar to John rosenstruck got hit with it a bunch he kind of backed up this time but here’s a technique that him and John do all the time and it all starts with that grab with that Long Reach trying to take out those lead knees maybe they’re going to be grabbing each other for the whole time trying to kick each other in these I don’t know but I can’t wait to watch it so Cyril gone Amazing techniques with his legs Nimble incredible kicking game we’ve talked about distance strikes for both of these guys we haven’t really talked about in the clinch yet but Jon Jones is kind of a master everywhere that’s what makes him so good that includes his elbow attacks absolutely I mean you’re talking about one of the all-time greats one of his Hallmarks really truly is the elbows we’ve watched them with all whether it’s standing up whether he’s spinning whether it’s against a cage whether it’s on the ground he does huge damage with these elbows let’s take a look at how he utilizes these in the Octagon so man I hate to do this to my guy Anthony Smith but I mean he Big Brothers him so bad here he literally just puts his hand on his head and goes uh-uh you’re not going to come in here and we can see the reach really really at use here watch this watch what John does here he’s literally going to stick it out get his range and fold that elbow over the top I’ve got my range there’s one he lands that one then he goes again let me get my range again got my range Here Comes number two boom not so hard but he’s still got it let’s watch him again number three John again range again got my range that one was a little bit better that’s the big one that he lands over the top right there incredible stuff by Jon Jones He backs up all right those are some nice ones over the top Anthony looks like he ain’t having a fun day at the office but John’s not done and here’s where John just gets amazingly creative and he’s so exciting to watch he’s going to give me a level change and here comes that up elbow credit to Anthony kind of sees it but still just a crazy unique attack with the lead hand lands that elbow and then one more big elbow off the break you know that one probably did the most damage John stringing together multiple attacks all with the elbows all with finding the range here we go we see him against DC right here and here’s that oblique kick that we talked about to the knees he lands that and let’s see what John does here he’s going to occupy both the DC’s hands okay and this is what he does he will occupy hands and then off of that he will lead into the elbow and so we’re going to pay attention to this side and we’re going to watch what he does and again we’re talking about DC one of the greats you think that DC doesn’t know where he’s dangerous doesn’t know what he’s going to do this is the thing about John again everybody talks about it but when they get in there they can’t seem to stop it and here’s another example of that watch that left hand he’s going to fold it right over the top and you can see DC trying to get away touches him right on the cheek and this is what John does he occupies the hands he plays the touch game and then he lands the elbows off of that reach Advantage he understands it so well here is against Thiago Santos again we see the touch this time though Thiago Santos is coming in he said no no you touch I’m going this time so here comes Thiago Santos let’s watch what John does with this arm okay as Thiago comes in he’s gonna fold it straight over and land it right to the temple I mean he times this perfectly and when we break this down and we look at how in control John is it’s incredible so watch this so he gets the elbow in position right but thiago’s kind of got his arm up watch how John pauses just for a second I’m gonna let it play waits for it and then hits him with the elbow he puts it in position Waits there’s the strike so I mean he’s in complete control we know he can use them standing up but he can also use these elbows on the floor so here he’s got Vitor he’s controlling the wrist right here okay so let’s just watch how he sets these elbows up on the ground first thing he does all right let me control the wrist keeps that wrist control and we’re gonna see him land a big elbow off of this and he had already cut Vitor there’s one right so he got that wrist control lands that elbow inside Vitor is pummeling he’s hand fighting he’s trying to figure out position trying to get this big guy off of him trying to stop all this damage so there’s another little short elbow there’s one over the top no let me throw a left hand he’s going to dive back in here now let’s watch this now here’s the second one first he controlled the wrist now he’s controlling the biceps so we always say bicep control you want to control the biceps or you want to control the hips right and in this instance again he’s got that bicep control and he’s going to roll this elbow off of this bicep control boom there’s another one detour traps this arm here and he’s kind of got it stuck he’s got a little overhook on it and you’re going to see what John does John is going to bring that elbow down he’s going to bring it all the way down and load it to go over the top so he understands that he’s got it here feet towards got a clamp on it he can’t really do anything so let’s watch John bring the elbow all the way down there it is brings it down load the elbow and now here he is over the top boom Big Shot Cuts Vitor again Jon Jones deadly with these elbows in the clinch the cage or on the floor gone known for that distance striking now we talked about his kicks but Muay Thai also includes the tie clinch it’s not your traditional wrestling clinch but he still has that work in close absolutely he’s very very good in the clinch and he’s shown that he’s got great knees in the clinch he will use flying knees to get in the clinch again similar to John he’s got good cage control understanding of the underhook positions and the wrist control he can also wrestle from there so let’s take a look at what cereal does from the clinch this is going to be very important in this fight these guys and how they how they do this and how they act let’s break this down right here here is against volkov and again I put this in here because he’s a big guy he’s a big long guy how does he deal with it now he is more of a kickboxer to be fair but so we see Cyril’s got that underhook with the right side he’s got that control and then we also see that he’s occupying this wrist right here and we’re going to watch what he does he occupies that wrist but watch what he does he’s going to take that hand he’s going to move it out right here he’s going to move it out he’s moved it out he’s created this space for himself right here right and then he’s going to shoot that knee right up the middle here right in that space he’s very good again at controlling the hands and moving things around to get that strike off and there is a perfect example of it lands at knee and volkov doesn’t like that right he’s like all right I need to get out of here so then he steps back gets his range and you’re gonna see him he’s going to throw a hook here and this hook bulk off blocks but it starts to drive him this way he says no you’re not going that way I want to keep you here I want to drive you this way and the reason why is because he’s Southpaw so all of his power and stuff are still on this side so we use the hook to trap to drive people the other way towards our power hand that’s exactly what he’s doing here so it works perfectly and volkov says all right I can’t go that way and here comes Cyril boom there’s this jump knee kind of misses the knee because volkov moves but he ends up smacking him right with the shin it kind of becomes like a double kick almost touches them beautifully and again that’s his entry or exit with those flying knees he’ll enter with him or he’ll exit here’s against Tanner Bowser and and there’s that big jab right he lands that big jab we see it time and time again he hits people with that jab and what they Retreat I mean he hurts people with that Jab so he’s starting to retreat he’s getting backed up man this guy is incredibly fast for his size we can see here he’s going to reach for the head once he gets the head he’s gonna get the double knee he’s gonna jump with this leg and let’s just watch let’s just watch this here let’s watch the placement here with this knee I mean right on the chin he lands it right on the chin you can see the beard so for him to be able to jump in the air move that quickly get his head over the top of the octagon and land that double knee that fast off that jab it just shows you his ability how fast he is with these knees and these clinch positions and then again now you see him here he’s got head control here and he’s going to throw a beautiful little uppercut he’s going to land this thing right in between the guard Nails him you can see his face turn so he will also grab off those land punches as well not only in these beautiful work here by Cyril gone here we see Cyril with the underhook on this side and this just shows you how crafty this guy is inside the clinch let’s take a look at this let’s let this play there’s a knee they’re kind of playing the game and and we can see here that Derek is trying to control posture right here right he wants to control Cyril’s head well Cyril doesn’t like to be controlled and watch what he does here this is so incredibly slick I watch it twice he’s going to lower his level straight down right so is he going to shoot a takedown what’s he doing Derek doesn’t look too concerned here he’s just he’s just kind of still trying to chill but that’s not what he’s doing he is going to pull a yair Rodriguez here and throw an up elbow from this position as he comes down perfectly and he’s gonna land it right it was so crafty I thought was great but what’s even better is then he’s going to back out rip that out and he’s going to land a huge elbow over the top here which is even more important right on the temple and when you see that ability for him to land those shots off the break land those big elbows back up throwing elbows behind him for a guy that’s a heavyweight it’s incredible we’ve never seen someone this size move like this inside the octagon here he is against Derek Lewis and I put this in here because this is important this shows Derek is controlling him we know that John’s probably going to try to control him against the cage we know that Jon’s gonna look at the Francis and ganu fight they’re going to see that fight they’re gonna they’re gonna want to test this as part of John’s game as well so can Cyril reverse how is he going to do against the defense I know it’s Derrick Lewis but Derek Lewis is still a big heavyweight that’s had a lot of success how does he move that body well let’s see he understands he’s going to Pummel inside here and this is just its Basics but this is what fighting is right pummeling for under hooks working the head position we’re going to see that pummels for under hooks then he starts unloading the knees he pummels again gets double underhooks now he’s got his head positioned again we always want to get our head lower than our opponents so we can drive that leverage back into them right and we have our takedowns and we’ve got better access with every weapon that we have as long as we’re lower than our opponents and we see serial do this goes to work with these big knees head position also he shows us he understands the bicep control that we showed with John this all the principles are the same whether on the ground or on the cage right grappling the principles remain I want to control the bicep I want to control the wrists here we see Cyril with that bicep control also loading up a huge huge knee bringing that thing way out here from Mississippi getting ready and he can do big damage here so if he can hold John here which is yet to be seen he can maybe land some pretty good blows to the knees into the legs and kind of try to wear John’s legs out a little bit and finally here we see him with rosenstruck we put this in here and again he pummels inside and you can see that he’s got under hooks right here on both sides he’s got an underhook here as well rosenstruck has the overhook and we see Cyril when he wants to he can also wrestle and here it comes he’s going to get his hands locked here his hands are locked nope cover up now he goes to the single leg and we’re gonna watch this this is impressive because he chain wrestles from a single leg here to a double switches to a double leg and for him we know he hasn’t Wrestled a lot we know it’s not one of his strong points but I thought it was impressive that he was able to utilize this against another striker in rosenstruck and he Landed It Well gets a clean take down here also showing what that he understands that he needs to control the wrist and we’re going to see it one more time there’s that wrist control so again Cyril understands all the little things that he needs to do in the fence right in the cage game and the takedowns and the clinch there’s the risk control off the takedown Cyril gone got options in the clinch knees elbows and he can wrestle as well perhaps it’s the most uncertain factor of this fight is how he’ll deal with the grappling of Jon Jones wrestling background that he has one of the most iconic moments of his career submission win over Leota Machida it’s going to the grappling of Jon Jones well Juco national champion at Iowa Central he has incredible wrestling that he Blends beautifully with submissions and unbelievable ground and pound that he puts Big Time damage on people let’s take a look at Jon Jones incredible grappling so here he is against V torn he shoots the shot um right away and I mean it’s just so much fun to go back and look at these fights V tour and we’re going to see Machida just shows you you know uh really how incredible John’s resume is and for those people that haven’t watched you know MMA for a long time I encourage them to go back and watch these fights and just kind of see the Legacy that is Jon Jones there’s definitely some controversy there but there is also an incredible Legacy so here comes John he’s got this single Vitor is looking for the neck here and Vitor was a good black belt and and John wasn’t really well tested yet in the submission area back in this day he was a blue belt I think he might have been a white belt when this fight happened this was what made these fights incredible and we’ll get to the Machida fight in a minute uh so everyone was like well maybe he can get submitted and this fight shows us a lot so you can see that Vitor is trying to get under their neck he’s got the little Cup going on but John is wise to it and John grabs the wrist right and John we always say fight the attack what’s attacking you well the hands were what was attacking John so he attacked the hands he’s gonna peel that off and once he peels that off he’s going to finish his takedown just goes to show you very calm under submission threats no problem I doubt he’ll see a guillotine from Cyril but you never know clears the hands gets the takedown now here is against Vitor now let me just say Vitor pulled guard here that was a big mistake we don’t see a lot of guard pulling nowadays in UFC it this is one of the reasons why you don’t want to be on your back in in the UFC you just don’t especially with Jon Jones on top view John’s going to pass right to side here and he’s just gonna go to work he’s going to stuff here you can see him utilizing that length he stuffs and gets crucified position once he gets crucifix position he’s going to go to work he starts dumping these elbows there’s another one doesn’t get much worse than this now let’s watch the interesting thing here is how Vitor puts his hand here why did he put his hand over his face that’s what happens when you eat six elbows right to your eyebrow so John has been here before the only thing that Vitor could do right his other arm was trapped so he covered with that other arm perfect thank you very much I’ll grab that wrist let me get my figure four lock and here he goes with the Americana and you’re gonna see this this was so impressive because Vitor was a black belt and the way he got that Americana he pulled it straight into the ribs which is the right way to do it um and he executed it perfectly submission victory over Vitor Belfort was a huge deal back in the day for him to submit him and finish him on the ground and here it is drops Vegeta immediately hurts them now here we go this is really interesting here John’s gonna lock up a choke here and we’re gonna get in here right about here man this is just nasty John has the guillotine you can see how far down Machida’s head is and how much that arm is around his neck I mean there is so much length there for John his ability to dig the choke so deep he adds another leverage Point by just grabbing his own hand and turning it up because he’s got that 84.5 inches he can get these chokes and continue to crank him and turn the pressure on and that’s exactly what he does here he holds on to this you can see Machida is fighting the wrist right here and he is still awake right he is still awake but I want you to watch this hand so he’s still awake he’s fighting fighting and you can see John turns it up more we’re gonna see that hand drop that hand now of machitas has dropped and Machida is now unconscious and you can see how high up John has taken that that grip I mean he pushed that thing all the way up while Machida’s head is stuck underneath with all that torque Machida is out here three two one and that’s why the drop was so violent an iconic moment Jon Jones’s career here we see him against Dominic Reyes again let’s talk about it this fight was talked about over and over again about how Dom will Rey has won and how it was three to two and I watched the fight in great detail and it was a very close fight but I will say that I think this sequence was one of the reasons why John won the fight this was in the fourth round John’s gonna initiate some grappling here and he gets a really good scramble going here he gets the body lock and he’s gonna make Dom Reyes wrestle here and let’s take a look at this there’s the body lock he fails the inside trip he goes right in and you can see he’s on that reshot on that double Dom is in but Dom goes too much in and you’ll see a little throw by here by John loses his balance here goes John credit to Dom I mean he was on point he gets up he’s on his feet he’s trying to Pummel under hooks he did a great job of that but here again we see John he kept that lock the whole time he’s got that Gable grip he’s got that body lock he’s going to get a mat return right here but Dom gets a little bit of a hand on top of the cage he’s all right doesn’t quite get the mat return so watch John he’s already lowering his level here getting in double position and watch what he does with his hands and this is just what makes Jon Jones a champion now he’s gonna lock his hands together here he’s gonna pull for this double you see it right here he’s got the hands locked he continuously chain wrestled throughout that he went for the inside trip missed re-shot on that throw by gets back up right tries the body lock lift loses that now he’s already in on the double so we see the chain wrestling here from Jon Jones he’s gonna land this double he puts Dom on his butt but you’re gonna see Dom I mean he’s ready to spring right back up and John is trying to get the leg lace he’s trying to do all those things but Dom was was wise and ready so Dom’s back up here he’s back on the hips just grabbing him leaning on him laying on him backing on the legs he stops that now let’s stop after this scramble Dom Reyes spends a lot of the time just circling conserving his energy picking his shots and I really feel like this scramble and he does it again in the fifth round John does it again to him John can use this wrestling when he needs to and this is a key point in this fight if it gets to the fourth and fifth round and it’s close and Cyril’s Landing some big shots and got some damage look for John to go to this wrestling make it a old school grind out match where Cyril just that’s not Cyril’s thing right we know he can wrestle but can he keep up with John’s wrestling and how’s John’s wrestling at heavyweight how’s the gas tank at heavyweight intriguing stuff I can’t wait to see how it goes down incredible wrestling and grappling by Jon Jones he can utilize it whenever he needs to and that’s the reason why he’s the champion and how is it after three years away from the Octagon as well all right we’ll go X factors on each of them so we’ll get to Jon Jones in a moment What’s the X Factor for Cheryl gone if he wants a championship belt again we have never seen a guy this size this nimble Brendan he can fight ambidextrously he has abilities on both sides throwing kicks throwing punches he can move left he can move right it makes him a very tough puzzle to solve can he utilize this foot movement to keep John guessing and keep John chasing him while he can get him to dive in and land one of those big shots very very important to see the footwork is The X Factor here for Cyril gone let’s take a look at some of the things he does let’s just watch us here Brendan I mean this guy is obviously a terrific dancer look at the footwork look at the motion look at the Mojo he’s got it all working here let me settle here now I’m ready I’m gonna uncork that all that movement all that footwork all for one strike and you could see Ty was just kind of watching him like man what are you doing and there it is and he does this over and over again lands a perfect leg kick and a watch I’m out of here I’m not playing that game with you let’s look at him here right so right now he is orthodox but he understands that Thai is Southpaw right now and Ty is moving and sliding with him so he knows that in the switch he switches to Southpaw he constantly does this all the time when somebody gives him a look he’ll give him a different look and he’ll do it so fast the other guy won’t have a chance as he switches to Southpaw as tie a southpaw he lands that left hand right in front and you can guess it the foot battle is a win for him so in that brief little exchange he just made the read made the movement switched stances lands that perfect left hand right in the a Zone and now he’s in an ability to skate out he’s got the foot battle he’s always smart about the positions he’s in and and always careful defensively as well as offensively not to get hit on the return perfect work here by Cyril gone here we see him with Ty and this is just self-explanatory here his ability to get out of the way of stuff and then land his own is is really awesome here so there’s the lead kick from TY let me just get out the way no you’re not gonna get me and then watch where his return is he just moves out of the way but watch the return fire and the accuracy again the accuracy is is Paramount accuracy with the footwork together is what makes him so incredible as a striker so you throw a leg kick I’m just going to get out of the way I’m going to return right away which is what a good Striker does right to the body perfect placement land right again here Ty’s in a good position he’s outside of the lead leg and he’s where he needs to be but we’re going to watch how crafty Cyril is again with his footwork how quick his reactions are here goes Ty is going to uncork that let me just get out of the way you know what let me fire right back to your lead leg not only will he get out of the way he can make the read get out of the way make the read and then apply it right away and that’s an incredible skill only seen at the highest level here he’s against volkov and this is a very very unique situation and this is why I put it in here volkov’s got these long legs right so finally got a guy with long legs similar to John volkov’s got these long legs and Cyril has the reach Advantage with the hands this just shows Cyril’s intelligence as well with his footwork so volkov’s gonna throw a kick and they’re going to throw a kick at the same time she was like I don’t want to be in kicking range with him kicking range is not good for me I’ve got the advantage with the reach and also right here they’re what they’re a zone right here right they’re right in front of each other watch again this little Sprint step by cereal to get outside and behind getting outside of lead leg and behind so fast he’ll use that Sprint step to jab or he’ll use it to cut an angle beautifully done there’s the left hand so his understanding of range in the kicking game when someone has long legs similar to John if John has is starting to catch one of those long legs look for him to use that Sprint jab and those Tempo changes to try to change it up on John and try to catch him really really well done and here he is against JDs and this is pretty self-explanatory we’re going to see JDS come in with a big shot and here’s that measurement we see he’s measuring him right should I hit him up top well I could do that but here’s a nice Target right here just waiting and watch the adjustment he looks boom perfectly placed again he is behind him right here he is behind JDS his footwork similar to the tie to avasa series similar to all that he’s constantly assessing people let him come in making the perfect angle with his footwork and his elusiveness changing sides ambidextrous abilities to get in perfect position to immediately land the return strike well done perfectly placed leg kick surrogon is fantastic incredible footwork huge X Factor here in this Championship out there are so many X factors when it comes to Jon Jones right every time he fights it seems like there’s a list of questions of where he at is at right now as a heavyweight what’s his ex factor to win man I mean Jon Jones this will be his 16th championship fight Cyril gone only has 12 professional fights let that sink in for a second we know John has incredible fight IQ and he has Championship experience unlike almost anybody else in the Octagon right I mean we’re talking Anderson Silva level title defenses John is very unique in the fact that he always finds a way to win he really really does and that’s what makes him a champion let’s take a look at his championship experience and his fight IQ and some of the tricks that he uses inside the Octagon similar to Cyril we see John doing some misdirection here Cyril was doing with his eyes John’s going to do it with his hands John’s going to go a little bit low high here he’s going to give Anthony just a little touchdown low and you can see he threatens here down low we saw this earlier with DC when he was doing the body stuff but now he’s kind of threatening the knee tap and Anthony Smith you can kind of see him reacting but he doesn’t catch it fast enough he fakes low and here comes High perfectly placed left hand you see John great level change low in a great position but attacking up high just incredible fight IQ that the tricks and the craftiness is is next level from Jon Jones so fake low go high hurts Anthony Anthony needs some real estate curious against the great DC and we’re going to see DC here DC was ready for this fight man DC was so ready for this fight and that’s what makes it that much more impressive of how John beat him and you can see DC was ready for the hand game so he’s playing it too and DC was grabbing the hands and throwing punches himself if you go back and watch and Landing but this isn’t a game that you want to play with Jon Jones and even though he had some success ultimately it would cost him and we’ll see here John taking advantage of that you want to reach for my hands all touch I’ll throw right over the top right where you’re reaching because if you’re reaching you cannot cover your face so as he sees DC reach he just plants and throws that right hand right over the top lands it perfectly but he’s not done now here comes that oblique kick right and again we talk about John always measuring the distance you’re here I can kick you I can hit you you can’t touch me measuring the distance hits that oblique kick perfectly great still not done yet one more oblique kick and here we go again we talk about John occupying the hands right he’s occupying the hands of DC they’re playing this little game grabbing each other’s hands and we’re gonna see what John does here it’s super slick gauge in the range a little bit of a grab one more oblique kick but he’s not done yet here we go with DC again playing the hand game you know he just kept going with it again he did have some success but this is what I want to pay attention to I want you to pay attention to this wrist watch what he does with his hand Brandon he’s going to take this hand at DC’s and he’s gonna stuff it down low right so he stuffs it down low here pinning it against his body and DC immediately kind of moves back and all right like what are you doing he’s also still occupying this hand right off of that occupation Here Comes John he knows he’s got it stuffed lands this big knee right to the stomach I mean again let me occupy your hands oh you back up I’m gonna kick you occupy your hands you back up I’m gonna punch you first see through the punch then he threw the kicks now here come the knees constantly making the Reeds using his fight IQ to make the right call and land the right strikes perfectly executed here by John here he is against Vitor and we put this in here to show John’s incredible grit right and Championship experience this was a huge moment for Jon Jones again we talked about his Jujitsu maybe he was the white belt at the time maybe a blue belt we’re gonna look at this he gets himself in some trouble trying to get those controls with the head to look for the elbows well Vitor was obviously ready for that right and this is the very beginning of the fight Vitor hits this arm bar and he’s going to get this thing in there John’s arms are so long that it’s hard for him when he gets in these spots he’s going to be stuck and you can see he is stuck right here his arm is going away it’s not supposed to go and vitor’s got full extension he’s got his legs he’s got everything they’re dry still he’s got all of his strength this was a big moment for Jon Jones what is Jon Jones going to do when he gets in trouble is he going to quit I don’t think so he’s gonna work on it he got his arm wrenched really good there I mean really really good and he shakes it off after the fight you could see it he talks about it but he just sees his way through these moments that’s who John is and lastly we got to talk about this this is the Gustafson fight where it was so close going in the fifth round so close and man it was really like watching real life drama unfold is Gus gonna pull this off I mean this was the prime of John’s career his light heavyweight run I mean it was crazy but if you watch that fifth round again what does John do he turns it on similar to the Dom Reyes clip I talk about with wrestling when the chips are on the line Jon Jones shows up and again one more little tidbit where’s John looking here he’s looking down so these guys they do so many things the same it’s amazing and we’re gonna watch John here he’s going to fire this boom there’s that left head kick elbow and Gus is all beat up too Gus is all bloodied up this is just who wants it more huge moment again to get that takedown in the fifth round and again John just pushed the pace flying knees jumping knees all the rest crowd is on its feet John beaten up hurt but still the champ and this is what makes Jon Jones incredible is fight IQ his championship experience he’s not the guy that you want to count out at any moment inside a championship fight including as he goes up away class to fight for the heavyweight title now we go to keys to Victory where you summarize in a bullet point fashion what Jon Jones needs to do to be the heavyweight champ yeah Brennan he needs to utilize the grappling here we know that he’s got a grappling Advantage we know that in the Francis and ganu fight that gone was grounded and really that’s where he made the huge mistake in the fifth round diving for the heel hook I mean when he was on top position so we know he can wrestle but he’s still green there John with his incredible pedigree he needs to ground gone put some damage on him slow him down and control those rounds and then win them he also needs to win in the clinch we showed Cyril is capable on the clinch she can wrestle he’s got incredible knees knees on the entry knees on the exit incredible elbows but John is brilliant in the clinch and this is usually his spot this is going to be Paramount to who wins this fight who can win the clinch battle who’s got the string who can get the positions and who can sustain them this is really one that I’m going to watch for but I think John is going to go right to it John does not shy away from a challenge he goes at people where they’re strong and I expect him to go right into the clinch position lastly he needs to strike at distance he cannot just run at Cyril gone cereal gone has such good footwork he’s so elusive he’s so crafty John has got to strike and get him going and get him worried about his striking John shows exceptional striking at distance he also has the reach Advantage here by three and a half inches so even though he’s going up a weight class he still incredibly has the reach advantage against Cyril at 81 to 84 and a half John’s gonna have to use his leg kicks his oblique kicks his punches his long-range weapons to get Cyril occupied so he can get to those clinch positions get those takedowns and have a really well-rounded performance and either get to stoppage get the finish on the ground or win the decision a big stoppage is what Cyril gone got in his last outing against Tai Tui Vasa last September how does he get that Undisputed heavyweight title well first of all it’s that incredible footwork and movement that Cyril has shown his ambidextrous ability his movement on on both sides makes it really hard to game plan for him and I’m sure he’s got even more wrinkles now he’s got to use that movement and that footwork to be elusive score keep John In The Middle continue to score and win the rounds and not get trapped against the cage on the ground he’s got to keep the fight on the feet I think and really use his striking to win this fight and that being said he needs to lead the dance he cannot sit back and try to counter Jon Jones we know John has an incredible pace and experience and he can use that to control five rounds we’ve seen at time and time again Cyril cannot let that happen he’s got to let that beautiful jab that little Sprint jab disrupt the timing in the temple of John get him off his game and hopefully land the big shots to hurt him or win enough and damage him enough to win the fight and lastly he has to win in the clinch like we spoke about with John the clinch is is a big part of this fight who has got the strength who has got the tenacity and the skill to win in this position we know Cyril’s going to be working on that on his clinch game and on his get-ups and on his ground obviously they’re going to go to what lost them the title fight with Francis and John knows that as well so I look for him to be improved in this area but he’s going to have to win those engagements control some of that time land some of those knees and get the exit break strikes going and also dictate the pace here you cannot get controlled against the fence for one minute two minute or even the Dom Reyes situation where John gets the takedown even though if he pops right back up what it’s burning the clock and John is winning winning the round so he’s gonna have to win in the clinch to win this fight Cyril gone won the interim heavyweight title before now he’s looking to give France its first Undisputed UFC champion meanwhile Jon Jones hasn’t fought since early 2020 but he makes his long away to debut in the heavyweight Division and come the end of the night on March 4th we will have a new UFC heavyweight champion for safe side I’m Brandon Fitzgerald Deep dive preview well done as always thanks for watching UFC breakdown [Music]