Jon Jones blames UFC 197 performance on powerlifting

After Jon Jones’ performance against Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197, both Greg Jackson and Daniel Cormier were in agreement on one thing: powerlifting was the main culprit for his lack of explosiveness and usual dominance.

"Powerlifting’s a problem. He gasses. I only want to do an I-told-you-so dance right now," Jackson said.

"He looked a lot bigger, but he also looked a lot slower. He looked like he tired a little faster," Cormier said, on the other hand.

Upon his reinstatement into the UFC in late 2015, Jones focused more on strength building, and began deadlifting as much as 585 pounds. But apparently, he himself admitted that it may have played a factor in his lackluster performance against OSP.

In a recent media event in Los Angeles ahead of UFC 200, "Bones" revealed that he has done "almost zero" weightlifting for this current training camp.

"In my last fight, it definitely played a factor in me being conservative and conserving the way I used my energy. I felt like I was in good shape, my lungs were strong, but I felt like my muscle endurance maybe wasn't in the right place," Jones said (transcription by MMA Fighting).

If a bulkier Jon Jones was more prevalent at UFC 197, he says fans will get to see him back to his old self come Saturday night.

"I've actually been focusing in burning off muscle by doing overloading on endurance. I think you'll be able to tell in the weigh-ins and during the fight that I'll look a lot more like the way I used to look, a lot less bulky. My endurance feels amazing."