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“We Always Have Backups…”: Dana White’s Major Revelation for Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane Fight Leaves UFC Fans Baffled

Published 02/26/2023, 7:26 AM EST

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As we inch closer to UFC 285 in what would be a significant event for the promotion, president Dana White has revealed a major detail regarding the main event involving Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane. White, while answering the media after today’s UFC fight night event, confirmed that the promotion had a backup fighter in place for the heavyweight title fight.

While it is natural for the UFC to have a substitute in place, especially for a fight of this magnitude, the fact that this piece of news was kept under wraps has come as quite a surprise for many. Despite confirming it, the 53-year-old did not disclose who the backup fighter was, leaving fans online to come up with their own theories of who the unknown fighter could be.

 

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Reacting to this news, UFC fans had a field day online, proposing wild ideas, for instance, a WWE-type entrance. While others also expressed genuine surprise with the news, wondering who the undisclosed fighter could be.

Dana White reveals there is a backup fighter for the UFC 285 main event; doesn’t disclose who it is

Talking to the press, the UFC President did not hesitate in confirming that the Jones vs. Gane fight did have a backup involved just in case. White’s exact words were: “We always have backups for those kinds of fights.” And considering the immensity of the card and not just this particular bout, it would be foolish of the UFC to risk losing the main event if something unexpected did come up.

Although he then also leaves the media guessing with his next response. “I’m not gonna say, but we got a backup,” answered White, to the question of who the backup fighter was.

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MMA fans wasted no time in throwing in names. Although some of them were purely hilarious, quite a few also had some logical explanations in place.

Fans online go wild over White’s announcement

For many MMA fans on Reddit, this gave them the opportunity to propose wild ideas, more akin to WWE than MMA.

The first few names that popped up were of former champions Francis Ngannou and Daniel Cormier. And considering the history of these two with the UFC and Jon Jones, it was not surprising at all.

“Bah gawd, that’s Francis Ngannou’s music!”

“Bah gawd, DC… DC is taking off his headset!”

There were quite a few WWE references as well. Even Conor McGregor was not spared.

“Now I want to see DC suddenly challenging Jones for a 3rd fight during the octagon interview lmao “You think I’ll just sit there and let you have my belt Jon?”

“Is that… is that Connor McGregor!? And he’s got a dolley! (No-no-no-no-Notorious sounds)”

“DC is in the cage. Is that a steel chair?”

 

One Cormier fan felt that DC always had a chance against Jones at HW.

“I actually think DC beats Jones at hw. Maybe not now now.”

Despite all the absurd ideas, some did have logical suggestions as well.

“Seems logical: Stipe, Pavlovich, Volkov, Not a lot of chance but I would not be surprised: Aspinal, Francis, Blaydes, Spivac.”

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“I’d put money on Volkov.”

“Probably Stipe, since he hasn’t had a fight in forever and may want to get back into the octagon soon.”

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Now it’s important to note that, despite the presence of a backup, the chances of the fight falling out are quite slim. Jones and Gane, both impressively, have never missed weight in their careers. And since the heavyweight title is also on the line at UFC 285, both fighters are expected to hit the scale without any complications.

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Written by:

Pragjyoti Singh

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Pragjyoti is a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. He is extremely passionate about MMA and has a good understanding of the sport and its technicalities. Having trained in the sport along with a passion for journalism, it has helped him develop a keen interest in the UFC and anything related to the promotion.
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Edited by:

Amal Joyce