Jon Jones: Why the UFC Fighter Crawls Towards Opponents at the Start of Fights

• Jon Jones will return to the UFC as he battles France's Ciryl Gane for the Heavyweight title
• Bones' trademark crawl towards his opponents has been explained and it all started with a dream
• Jones first started crawling towards fighters in September 2011 when he fought Quinton Jackson

Jon Jones is undoubtedly one of the greatest MMA athletes to ever set foot in the Octagon.

The former UFC Light Heavyweight makes a return to the sport after a three-year break and will look to capture the vacant Heavyweight title.

Despite being away for so long, Jones is still the favourite going into the fight against Ciryl Gane.

Anyone who has watched Bones fight before will know how dangerous he is and they'll also know how uniquely he starts every fight.

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Jones has an unusual method of crawling towards his opponent at the start of a fight, with many assuming he did it to intimidate the other fighter.

It started with a nightmare

Give Me Sport notes that Jones actually began the unusual action as a result of a nightmare in 2011. Jones was scheduled to face Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in 2011 and had recurring nightmares that he would be knocked out.

“I kept having these nightmares before fighting Rampage Jackson that I would get knocked out. No matter how the fight played out, I would get knocked out in the first 30 seconds," he said.

Jones went on to explain that he had the feeling that he would be knocked out even on the night of the fight but after praying, he felt this powerful feeling.

"So I had this super deep prayer and touched my body from my head to my toes. As I was praying and touching myself, I noticed looking at myself that I was covered in white feathers. It was very real to me, there were like small feathers in between my fingers and they came up to my neck.

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"I felt as if I wasn’t earthly. I was able to hang on to the feeling and illusion of myself all the way through my walk to the cage. I felt like I walked into that Rampage Jackson fight as the feather man for the first time," he stated.

Jones added that something in his mind told him to start the fight by crawling towards Jackson. In his dream, he was always standing up when he got knocked out, and so he believed crawling would ensure the dream couldn't come true.

Jones submits Jackson

The strategy worked and Jones went on to win the fight. He submitted Jackson via a rear-naked choke in Round 4 to defend his Light Heavyweight belt.

You can watch highlights of that fight below:

Jon Jones bulks up

Jon 'Bones' Jones is looking to dominate the UFC's heavyweight division in 2023, Sports Brief previously reported.

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The former light-heavyweight champion has not fought in three years but will make his comeback in a big way in March.

The 35-year-old has been hard at work training ahead of his return to the octagon, surprising many with his physique.