Did Jon Jones gain too much weight?

When I was in my 20's I did something that I ended up regretting: I decided to intentionally gain weight in the hopes of becoming a beast from working out and bodybuilding. This can actually work for a lot of people but it takes a level of dedication to diet and exercise that most people do not have time for. While I was dedicated at first, my caloric intake got out of control and my pursuit of 5,000 calories a day quickly changed from putting a "good" 5k cals in to just getting 6,000 from any source and then just like it happens with a lot of people, the exercise dedication took a step back while the caloric intake remained the same. Instead of achieving "beast mode" I just ended up getting a bit fat.

Thankfully, in my situation it was not something that my career depended on and it was easy enough for me to turn around but for the first time in my otherwise athletic life I found myself in a position where I was now a bit fat and had to do something to adjust it. Gaining weight, whether by accident or for sports, is always a rather tricky and perhaps dangerous situation and lately, we have seen that it isn't just us regular people that this can be a mistake for, but perhaps even for elite athlete legends like Jon Jones as well.

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On the left we see Jon Jones when he was at light heavyweight and on the right we see him at heavyweight. Now when he first transitioned to heavyweight he was extremely dedicated and people were commenting on how dramatic and impressive his muscle gain was to obtain this. Obviously Jones is much more dedicated than most people are and he is driven by his one-of-the-greatest-of-all-time objectives and wanting to accomplish victory at multiple levels but now that he has won the heavyweight belt, is he slacking off a bit and perhaps wanting to transition to a role as a commentator?

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Now as they say in WWE this could very well all be a "work" to get people interested in prospective upcoming fights but recently in Saudi Jones was in attendance as was Francis Ngannau. Francis reportedly mocked how "fat" Jones was at the event and while he isn't exactly wearing form-fitting clothes he definitely looks a bit portly in the interview.

Jones hasn't fought for nearly a year and this could have something to do with it. As far as I know he doesn't even have a booking for a new fight at heavyweight and there have been rumors that he isn't interested in fighting anymore and I personally think this is because they offered him a chance at the strap too early because of his fame. So now we have to look at whether or not Jones is even motivated to train anymore or if he feels he has accomplished enough and doesn't feel the need to. There is also the very real probability that he may be searching for that cash cow money by taking an exhibition boxing match that would make him 30x his regular purse by fighting someone like Tyson Fury or something even stupider like Logan Paul. There are no talks about this but the way things have been going as far as that is concerned, I don't think anyone would be terribly shocked if this were to happen.

Ngannau has expressed little interest in ever returning to UFC as he has already signed with PFL but the way things are in the MMA world, you never can tell what sort of things these superstars are up to. Was this a "work" to see how the masses would react to a manufactured "beef" between Ngannau and Jones to hype up a potential match between the two? It could be.

Jones also could be completely disinterested in fighting in UFC because he already has the belt and the heavyweight division isn't looking that great these days over there. Tom Aspinall is currently the interim champion due to Jones' absence, so is he even interested in MMA anymore?

He doesn't appear to be training but I can't help but feel like a lot of the time that these interactions are intentional and that everyone involved is in on it. I wouldn't even be surprised if Jones was wearing padded clothing at the Saudi event simply to add credibility to the perhaps untrue notion that he has gained a ton of weight.

Don't get too worked up if this starts to become a feud in the MMA world soonish. It all could be a ruse just to get some PPV buys in 6 months from now.