UFC 285 – Severe MMA Staff Predictions

Jon Jones is back.

It’s been 3 years since the most dominant light heavyweight, and arguably the greatest fighter to ever grace an MMA cage, stepped foot inside the UFC’s Octagon. On Saturday night in the UFC 285 main event, “Bones” long awaited move to heavyweight will finally come to fruition as he squares off against French phenom Cyril Gane for the 265lb throne vacated by the undisputed Francis Ngannou.

It’s fitting that the man regarded by many as the most technically skilled fighter ever tops a UFC PPV card dripping in talent from top to bottom.

In the co-main event, flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko will once again defend her position at the top of the 125lb pile against surging Mexican challenger Alexa Grasso. Elsewhere on the main card, 16-0 Kazakh force of nature Shavkat Rakhmonov faces the toughest test of his career to date in Geoff Neal, former KSW double champ Mateusz Gamrot collides with “The Tarantula” Jalin Turner, and blue chip wrestling prospect Bo Nickal opens the show.

For a full breakdown of the card, check out the SevereMMA Preview Show. For now, here are our staff picks for the main card bouts:

2023 Leaderboard Standings:

PositionNameOverall RecordPerfect Picks
1Graeme McDonnell4-12
1Seán Sheehan4-12
1Andy Stevenson4-12
4Ian O’Neill4-11
4Caoilte De Barra4-11
4Harry Powell4-11
4Seán Denny4-11
4Jake Smith4-11
9E. Spencer Kyte3-21
9Harry Williams3-21
11Patrick Sheehan2-30
11Theo Lander2-30
Andy is a multimedia reporter, interviewer, writer, with a strong focus on Irish MMA. Co-host of The Auld Triangle podcast. Follow Andy on Twitter (@andyste123) and Instagram (@andystevensonMMA).

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