Jon Jones finally makes his heavyweight debut this Saturday at UFC 285.
Which, of course, means he’ll hit the scales Friday morning in Las Vegas. While there’s no chance Jones misses weight, a lot of eyes will be on the former light heavyweight champion to see just how much he’ll weigh for his heavyweight title fight with Ciryl Gane.
The pair will vie for the championship vacated by Francis Ngannou, who exited the UFC earlier this year to test the free agency waters.
Jones has not fought since a February 2020 win over Dominick Reyes. It was the second straight Jones victory that left some questioning the scorecards; Jones had the win on paper, but no small number had scored the fight for Reyes, as others had for his previous opponent, Thiago Santos.
Earlier during the UFC 285 fight week, Jones had denied playing with his food so to speak, when it was suggested he’d been bored in those later light heavyweight title defenses — but he also admitted that he was in search of bigger challenges. Three years later, he has just that quite literally with former UFC interim heavyweight champion Gane. “Bon Gamin” will enter the fight off a huge win against Tai Tuivasa in the UFC’s Parisian debut last September — and will look to capture the undisputed title with the hopes of bringing it, and an even bigger event, home to France.
In the UFC 285 co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko looks for title defense number eight against Alexa Grasso. Grasso has the chance to become the second Mexican-born champion crowned in the UFC this year, after Brandon Moreno won his flyweight title back at UFC 283 in January.
Bo Nickal debuts, Cody Garbrandt returns, Shavkat Rakhmonov looks to stay perfect against Geoff Neal — it’s a massive card in Las Vegas this weekend.
Cageside Press is in Las Vegas all week long to bring you behind the scenes coverage of UFC 285 — full results from Friday’s official weigh-in can be found below.
Two fighters came in heavy at Friday morning’s UFC 285 weigh-ins. Mana Martinez hit the scales a pound over for his fight with Cameron Saaiman. Blowing weight by a much wider margin, Geoff Neal came in at 175lbs — four pounds heavy for his main card welterweight match-up with Shavkat Rakhmonov.
UFC 285: Jones vs. Gane Weigh-In Results
Main card
Heavyweight: Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane (247.5) — for the vacant UFC heavyweight championship
Women’s Flyweight: Valentina Shevchenko (c) (124.5) vs. Alexa Grasso (124.5) — for the UFC women’s flyweight championship
Welterweight: Geoff Neal (175)** vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov (171)
Lightweight: Mateusz Gamrot (156) vs. Jalin Turner (155.5)
Middleweight: Bo Nickal (185.5) vs. Jamie Pickett (186)
Preliminary card
Bantamweight: Cody Garbrandt (136) vs. Trevin Jones (135)
Middleweight: Derek Brunson (185.5) vs. Dricus du Plessis (185)
Women’s Flyweight: Viviane Araújo (126) vs. Amanda Ribas (126)
Middleweight: Julian Marquez (186) vs. Marc-André Barriault (185)
Early preliminary card
Welterweight: Ian Garry (171) vs. Song Kenan (171)
Bantamweight: Cameron Saaiman (135) vs. Leomana Martinez (137)*
Women’s Strawweight: Jessica Penne (116) vs. Tabatha Ricci (115.5)
Bantamweight: Da’Mon Blackshear (136) vs. Farid Basharat (136)
Lightweight: Esteban Ribovics (156) vs. Loik Radzhabov (155.5)
Heavyweight: Sergei Pavlovich (259) – backup fighter
* Martinez misses weight by 1lb for his fight with Cameron Saaiman. Fined 30% of his purse, fight moves forward at a catchweight.
** Neal misses weight by 4lbs for his fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov. Fined 30% of his purse per UFC officials. Fight moves forward at a catchweight.
