Jon Jones gives Australian Alex Volkanovski words of advice ahead of UFC 298
UFC legend Jon Jones has touched down in Australia and gave some advice to Aussie Alex Volkanovski ahead of his fight with Ilia Topuria.
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UFC legend Jon Jones says Alex Volkanovski needs to “learn how to dance” as the Aussie prepares to reclaim his mantle as one of the sport’s greats in UFC 298 next weekend in Anaheim.
Jones landed in Australia on Friday for a promotional tour where the biggest talking point among fans will be how does the Volk respond after getting knocked out last year by Islam Makhachev.
Jones, 36, told this masthead that he has a lot of respect for Volkanovski and can’t wait to watch his fight against Ilia Topuria next week, but needs to improve his defence.
“Volk is the man, but he needs to learn how to dance.” Jones said.
The man considered arguably the “greatest fighter of all time” landed in Sydney on Friday for a promotional tour, enduring a four-day battle with immigration in Los Angeles before finally getting to Australia after two cancelled tours in the last 12 months.
Jones was supposed to land in Sydney along with his management team on Tuesday but he was stopped and not allowed to fly to the country.
On Friday morning Jones was greeted by an entourage of his management and promoters at Sydney’s international airport, where he will embark on his first leg of his two week tour.
Jones was set for a legacy fight against Stipe Miocic in November last year but was forced out due to a gruesome pectoral injury.
Jones said the UFC had tried to get him to main event their biggest pay-per-view of the year, UFC 300 but his injury prevented any early return.
“Me back in the cage, at least six months. I got quite a bit of healing to do, and there is going to be training after the healing, so it will be a little while,” he said.
In the meantime Jones is in Australia where he will hold martial arts seminars around the country and pass on his expertise to young fighters.
“The main goal for this tour is to give young martial artists the opportunity to have long lasting memories that they can keep for the rest of their lives,” he said.
“In the US people are a lot more familiar with me and here I’m going to meet some people that will never see me again.
“I just want to make some great, great memories for my Australian fans.”
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Originally published as Jon Jones gives Australian Alex Volkanovski words of advice ahead of UFC 298