Jon
Jones believes his protégé, Gable
Steveson, will rebound from his first professional MMA
defeat.
Sean
Sharaf knocked out Steveson in 12 seconds at UFC
331 in September, handing the Olympic wrestling gold medalist
his first loss in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship. Jones discussed Steveson’s
response and the adjustments his team plans to make.
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Jon Jones backs Gable Steveson after Sean Sharaf knockout,
outlines training adjustments
The former two-division UFC champion said Steveson had returned to
training. Jones pointed to other accomplished fighters who overcame
defeats, expressing confidence that Steveson would do the same.
“Gable’s doing great,” Jones said in an interview with The Schmo.
“I believe in Gable. I believe in the man and the person that he
is. And if you think about it, all the great fighters have had
knockouts and losses. I mean, GSP [Georges St.
Pierre] vs. Matt Serra –
there’s just so many examples. He’s in the right headspace. He’s
right back to training.”
Jones identified increased sparring as one planned adjustment.
“I feel like, as a team, we need to add a lot more sparring and we
have our little things that we can work on as a team, but he’s in
great hands,” Jones added. “He has great mentors and a great team
around him, and we believe he is going to pull back in an amazing
way.”