5 reasons why Jon Jones' move to heavyweight could end in failure

#2. Jon Jones may be past his best

Jon Jones didn't appear to be at his best in his most recent wins, such as his victory over Thiago Santos

There’s definitely a chance that Jon Jones has simply left it too late to make a meaningful run in the UFC’s heavyweight division. There’s also a very fair argument to suggest that he’s past his best, period.

‘Bones’ isn’t an aging fighter by any means. When you consider how long he’s been around the top of the UFC, it’s remarkable that he’s still only 34-years-old.

Despite this, it’s arguable that his last few fights were the least impressive of his career. He made hard work of defeating three opponents who he was hugely favored to brush aside in Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes.

Against the latter two foes, there was an argument that Jones didn’t deserve the nod from the judges. Who knows what might’ve happened had Santos not severely injured his knee early on in their bout?

The truth is that Jones peaked in his wins over the likes of Alexander Gustafsson and Daniel Cormier, sometime between 2014 and 2017. Every fighter reaches a peak and then has to come down. It’s likely that ‘Bones’ is now on the downswing.

With that in mind, if he’d wanted heavyweight success, he probably should’ve moved up about five years ago.

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#1. Jon Jones’ chin might not hold up at heavyweight

Would Jon Jones' chin hold up at heavyweight?

Jon Jones was dominant at light heavyweight for years for many reasons. One of the more underrated aspects of his skillset was his toughness and durability.

‘Bones’ didn’t always get hit cleanly by his opponents, but when he did, he was able to absorb the shots without being stunned, let alone knocked down. Over the years, we saw Jones eat shots from the likes of Daniel Cormier, Dominick Reyes and Alexander Gustafsson and never suffer too much damage.

However, would Jones’ chin be able to hold up to the kind of power possessed by the UFC’s top heavyweights? It’s a fair question to ask. After all, there’s a huge difference in the power of a 205lbs fighter and a fighter tipping the scales at 265lbs.

Essentially, every heavyweight in the UFC seems to possess knockout power. The likes of Francis Ngannou, Derrick Lewis and Tai Tuivasa are able to switch the lights off on their opponents with blows that don’t look to be more than glancing shots.

With zero experience of eating such strikes, whether Jon Jones’ chin could hold up against them is a massive question mark. He’d always be under threat, even in fights he might be winning.

It’s this question of durability that means that Jones’ move to heavyweight could well end in failure.