Yes, you read that right, John Jones it’s back. It’s been a long time since Jones fought in the UFC. Three years to be exact.
Believe it or not, Jones hasn’t fought since February 2020, when he won a controversial decision against light heavyweight challenger Dominick Reyes — a fight many experts believe he lost.
However, Jones’ latest fight is not a light heavyweight title fight. This heralded Jones’ long-discussed move to the heavyweight division. For the first time, Jones did not fight at 205 pounds. He has done a lot and fought the big guys in the UFC.
His heavyweight debut was an absolute doozy. The UFC originally wanted Jones to fight UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, but after a contract dispute, Ngannou left the UFC, meaning Jones is now facing off against Cyril Gane for in the vacant UFC heavyweight championship.
How did that match-up shake out for Jones? It’s hard to call. Jones is now the better favourite, but the odds are tight. We don’t know what Jones will look like at heavyweight. After a 3 year layoff, he has bulked up a lot to adjust to fighting bigger guys. Will it make him stronger? Maybe. Will this slow him down? Maybe too.
Gane is a very difficult opponent. A savvy kickboxer, Gane is a different kind of heavyweight striker. Rather than relying on knockout power, Gane is a technical kicker with good footwork and octagon knowledge. Without saying much, Jones struggles against technical strikers who can match his size. (See his first fight with Alexander Gustafsson and his recent fight with Reyes.) Make no mistake, this is not a tune-up match. Jones will be up against his toughest match-up possible in his heavyweight debut. I, for one, can’t wait to see it.
But UFC 285 was a solid card from top to bottom. Valentina Shevchenko defends her UFC flyweight title against slick boxer Alexa Grasso. Also on the undercard is much-hyped middleweight prospect Bo Nickal. Big names like Cody Garbrandt, Derek Brunson and Ian Garry also competed on the night.
Here’s everything you need to know…
Time to start UFC 285
The UFC 285 main card begins at 10 pm ET (7 pm PT) on March 4. Here are all the details from multiple time zones.
US
- The main card begins on March 4, 10 pm EST (7 pm PST).
- Prelims begin March 4, 8 pm EST (5 pm PST).
- Early prelims begin March 4, 6:15 pm EST (3:15 pm PST).
UK
- The main card starts March 5, 3 am GMT.
- The prelims start March 5, 1 am GMT.
- Early prelims start March 4, 11:15 pm GMT.
australian
- The main card starts on March 5, 2 pm AEDT.
- Prelims start March 5, 12 pm AEDT.
- Early prelims start March 5, 10:15 am AEDT.
Time to start the Main Event
It’s hard to say when the main event will happen, but if you want to only watch Jon Jones vs. Cyril Gane, you must jump at 11:30 pm EST (8:30 pm PST) to make sure you don’t miss out.
How to watch UFC 285
The UFC now has a partnership with ESPN. That’s great news for the UFC and by extension the sport of MMA, but bad news for consumer choice. Especially if you are one of the UFC fans who want to watch UFC in the US.
In the US, if you want to watch UFC 285, you can only find fight night on pay per view via ESPN Plus. The cost structure is a bit confusing, but here are the options for watching UFC on ESPN, according to the ESPN site:
- Current annual ESPN Plus subscribers can order an upcoming UFC card for $75.
- New ESPN Plus subscribers can purchase a bundle of one UFC PPV event (streaming in HD) and one ESPN Plus annual recurring subscription for $100. This is a decent deal. ESPN Plus annual ESPN subscriptions will automatically renew after one year, at the price of an annual ESPN Plus subscription at the time of auto-renewal.
You can do all of the above at the link below.
UK MMA fans can watch UFC 285 exclusively via BT Sport.
BT Sport has the rights to UFC PPVs in the UK.
There are many options if you live in Australia. You can watch UFC 285 via Main Event on Foxtel. You can also “:false,”numnodes”:1,”fireproductviewed”:false,”trackingdata”:{“asid”:””,”assetguid”:”db0ebeff-5b22-4fb5-89c2-09e91ccb1127″,”contype” :”review”,”desturl”:”https:\=”” \=”” mainevent.kayosports.com.au\=”” ufc\=”” ufc-276-adesanya-vs-cannonier”,”devicetype” :”desktop”,”ctype”:”cpc”,”iscreditcard”:false,”leadcpc”:””,”ltype”:”manual”,”merid”:””,”merchantname”:””,”pageid “:”db0ebeff-5b22-4fb5-89c2-09e91ccb1127″,”pagetype”:””,”pid”:””,”productid”:””,”rsid”:”cbsicnetglobalsite”,”siteid”:”1″ ,”text”:”stream=”” via=”” kayo=”” for=”” au$55″,”topic”:””,”ttag”:””,”searchdim”:”commerce-link”, “variant”:”commerce-link”,”viewguid”:””,”event”:””,”correlationid”:””,”_destcat”:”https:\=”” ufc-276-adesanya-vs- cannonier”,”formattype”:”link”,”location”:”links”,”sku”:””,”dwlinktag”:”commerce-link”}}”=”=”” section=”commerce-link” data- shortcode=”76-israel-adesanya-vs-jared-cannonier-start-time-how-to-watch-or-stream-online” rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” data-link-text=” stream by K fix AU$55″ style= “outline: 0px; color: rgb(20, 20, 21); text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgb(231, 29, 29) 0px 2px 0px -1px; -webkit-box-decoration-break: clone;”>stream via Kayo for AU$55. You can order with your PlayStation or with the UFC app on your Xbox. I usually buy directly from the UFC website.
You can check the PPV of Kayo in Australia.
Need more international viewing options? Try a VPN to change your IP address to access the US, UK or Australia options listed above. Check out the best VPNs recommended by CNET editors.
UFC 285 fight card
Main card
- Jon Jones vs. Cyril Gane
- Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso
- Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Geoff Neal
- Matuesz Gamrot vs. Jalin Turner
- Bo Nickal vs. Jamie Pickett
Prelims
- Cody Garbrandt vs. Trevin Jones
- Derek Brunson vs Dricus du Plessis
- Viviane Araujo vs. Amanda Ribas
- Julian Marquez vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
Early prelims
- Ian Garry vs Son Kenan
- Mana Martinez vs. Cameron Saaiman
- Jessica Penne vs. Tabatha Ricci
- Da’mon Blackshear vs. Farid Basharat
- Esteban Ribovics vs. Loik Radzhabov