If Gane hasn't been practicing his wrestling, and Jon Jones has half the ability he had in wrestling a few years ago, Gane is in for a extremely long night. We talk about how wrestlers tend to have the edge against strikers, and Jon Jones is literally one of the best wrestlers to have ever done it. The poor showing from Gane against Ngannou were warning signs to me, and I saw a image the other day of a quote from Gane saying he doesn't train until fight camp.
Now, I don't know how true that quote was, but if is then I'm not sure how he expects to beat one of the greatest of all time, and keep a belt too. I wouldn't have thought the quote was true, since Gane definitely has talent behind him, but you never know heavyweight is probably one of the weaker divisions in terms of quality.
We really don't know. Gane could be practicing a lot of wrestling as he knows who he's up against. As for Jones, he just needs half of his wrestling ability to hold down and control Gane. Ngannou isn't an astute wrestler but he was able to control Gane. Ngannou had an injured knee and was kinda gassed too.
The only worry I have for Jones is his mindset. And a lot of guys are giving Jones flack for his 'dad bod'. I think that's fine and nothing to be too worried about. I'd be more worried if Jones came out jacked to the tits as it could mean he'll slow down carrying around tight muscles.
My lottery ticket for 285...
Jones - Basharat 1.98
Add: Saaiman - Garry - Shev 3.45
Add: Du Plessis - Nickal - Rakhmonov 6.38
Add: Barriualt - Araujo - Garbrandt 34.75
Add: Radzhabov - Penne - Turner 481.77
Jones not really my most confident pick but I'm forced to put him at the top. No value if I put my more confident picks unless I go for 3 - 4 legs.