Ariel Helwani shared his thoughts on Jon Jones return at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 285!

Ariel Helwani is a Canadian born combat sports journalist. In his two decades of experience he’s covered promotions like UFC, Bellator, Pride, and many more. His large popularity in the sport is due to his hard hitting questions, and professionalism he brings to every interview. He is without a doubt the face of combat sports journalism.

These reasons are why Ariel Helwanis thoughts and words about Jon Jones return to the cage hold so much weight. Ariel has seen Jon Jones entire career unfold, highs and lows.  Jons highs mostly came in the octagon where he dominated the competition from the get-go. However, Jon suffered massive lows outside of the cage, including D.U.I’s, abuse charges, failed drug tests, and more. This weekend was different for Jones though as he seemed more mature the entire time leading up to the fight. Ariel shared that he was blown away by Jon Jones not just in the fight but the whole week leading up the fight as well:

“I was blown away by Jon Jones. Blown away by him. And I wasn’t just blown away by the two and a half, three minutes that was saw from him in the cage… I was blown away by him all week! All week Jon Jones felt comfortable, felt happy, felt stress free, felt motivated, like he played the whole week perfectly! Seemed to embrace the whole thing, wasn’t at odds with the UFC, wasn’t at odds with Dana White. Was happy at the press conference, was happy interacting with the people. He was on fire. He was fantastic.”

This is a large change for Jones as his fight weeks are usually riddled with drama and controversy. Ariel, myself, and fans are happy that we finally are getting to see what a happy, healthy, and fit Jon Jones can accomplish in the octagon.

Jones dominated Ciryl Gane in his return to the cage and called out heavyweight greatest of all time (Goat) Stipe Miocic. The two have a fight lined up for early summer.