Too honest and forthright, maybe, but definitely not stupid.
Saturday’s main event is one of the biggest fights in the last five years, in part because it carries a tremendous amount of genuine intrigue.
Not only has Jones not fought in a little over three years, but he’s returning to a new division, one where some of the tremendous advantages that he carried and maximized at light heavyweight will be diminished. After years of the outcome of his fights feeling like a foregone conclusion, there is some uncertainty about how Jones will perform as a heavyweight.
TITLE FIGHT PREVIEWS: Jones vs Gane | Shevchenko vs Grasso
“I think he’s going to be okay,” Gane said, offering his thoughts on Jones’ potential in the heavyweight division. “He’s not a small guy, so he can add some weight on him. He worked on this for two, three years, and he’s an athlete.
“In the heavyweight division, you see some guys are flat-footed, really slow, really fat, and I think he’s going to be better than that,” he added. “I think he’s going to jump into this division and be a good heavyweight.”
A good heavyweight, but not the best heavyweight.
“I think I’m a better heavyweight than him because I move better than him, I’m faster than him,” said the Frenchman, who rebounded from his UFC 270 loss to Francis Ngannou with a third-round stoppage win over Tai Tuivasa at home in Paris in September. “I think I have an advantage because I’m from this division; this is where I started.
“I have more experience with this division, with this weight, so I have an advantage, but he has some advantages, too. He’s had a big career, so he has experience at a high level.”
