Israel Adesanya picks Ciryl Gane to defeat Jon Jones at UFC 285: “He’s a new breed of heavyweight”

Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has given his thoughts on UFC 285’s headliner.

The main event will see the return of former light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones. ‘Bones’ has been out of the octagon for over the years, since his controversial decision win over Dominick Reyes in February 2020. Following that win, he vacated his championship with the goal of moving up.

This weekend, the former champion will face Ciryl Gane in his heavyweight debut. ‘Bon Gamin’ heads into the contest off a knockout win over Tai Tuivasa last November at UFC Paris. That victory helped the former interim champion get back on the right track after being defeated by Francis Ngannou in January.

The UFC 285 main event no doubt has the attention of the MMA world. That would include former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who’s had a lengthy history with Jon Jones. On his YouTube channel, ‘The Last Stylebender’ gave his picks for the event.

For the headliner, Adesanya picked Gane to win. The former middleweight champion praised the Frenchman for his movement, as well as speed, dubbing him a new breed of heavyweight.

Image Credit: @ufc on Twitter

“If you want to wake up for a guy in the morning, this is the guy,” Israel Adesanya said in a YouTube video. “Ciryl Gane, ‘Bon Gamin’, he’s game. This is a guy to wake up for. I think cause of activity, to be honest, and who he is, I’m gonna go Ciryl, but I won’t be surprised if ‘Bones’ wins.”

He continued, “I can’t front, this is that fight. Jones out for three years, Gane’s been active he’s a new breed of heavyweight. He’s light on his feet, very, very mixed striking, good grappling. People forget just cause Francis took him down, but I think that’s the element of surprise as well. Francis is strong as f*ck and knows how to wrestle, so when Gane wasn’t expecting it, he thought he was gonna have to bang with Francis cause that’s what Francis is known for.”