Jon Jones has had a long mass season before his UFC return.
One of the UFC’s most dominant free fighters of all time Jon Jones35, returns to the ring on Sunday after a three-year hiatus.
Between 2011 and 2020, Jones wiped out all light heavyweight contenders, and defended his World Championship title no less than 13 times. That’s a UFC record.
Now the American is looking for new challenges. During the three-year break, he has fattened up to the size of a heavyweight, and on Sunday he will fight for the World Championship title of that weight class against the French Cyril Ganen with.
The UFC light heavyweight weight limit is 93 kilograms, and the heavyweight weight limit is 120 kilograms. So the difference is a massive 27 kilos.
Jones used to weigh a good 100 kilos during the training seasons, but now, while preparing for the Gane match, the scales have shown readings of no less than 118 kilos.
You might think that gaining mass is much easier than shedding it, but adding 18 kilos – preferably in the form of muscle – is an extremely exhausting task.
Even when it comes to a UFC professional who trains mercilessly every day, food has to be eaten almost all the time, and in absolutely monstrous quantities.
A calorie bomb
British newspaper of The Sun according to Jones devoured an incredible 4,500 kilocalories a day during his diet. On rest days, he “loosened” his grip and ate only 4,000 kilocalories.
Jones ate a whopping 220 grams of protein a day.
In addition, he consumed a lot of potatoes, which provide potassium, as well as fruits and yogurt, which contain a lot of calcium.
A former professional bodybuilder and powerlifter was responsible for the Yankee player’s diet and muscle building Stan Efferding55. His teachings also paid off in the boxing gym.
In addition to sports exercises, Jones trained hard three powerlifting movements: squats, bench presses and deadlifts.
The deadlift is Jones’ bravura move. In it, he moves more than 225 kilos of iron at his best. UFC Karpaas makes the bench with more than 135 kilos.