Jon Jones announces move to Greg Jackson affiliate gym after recent split with Jackson-Wink team

Jon Jones has found a new training home but he’ll be surrounded by plenty of familiar faces.

The former UFC light heavyweight champion announced on Thursday that he’s started working with the Jackson’s MMA Acoma gym, which is an affiliate school associated with head coach Greg Jackson.

The program is run by veteran MMA fighter Nick Urso, who came up under Jackson during his own fighting career before branching out to start the affiliate gym.

“I want to sincerely thank Gym owner/coach Nick Urso and everyone at the original Jackson’s MMA program for allowing me to call their dojo my new home base,” Jones wrote on Instagram. “I was so proud to see the condition of the gym, it was so well taken care of and the energy felt amazing exactly the way it was before.

“It has wonderful memories of my time learning from [Georges St-Pierre], [Rashad Evans] ‘The Dean of Mean’ [Keith Jardine] and so many more. I won my first world title out of this gym. I am grateful to have this comfortable place for both my local and visiting training partners to come enjoy. The best is yet to come!”

The move comes after Jones was temporarily suspended from the Jackson-Wink gym in Albuquerque, N.M., which boasts coach Mike Winkeljohn as one of the lead trainers and owners of the facility.

Winkeljohn opted to suspend Jones after he was arrested on charges of domestic violence following an incident in Las Vegas on the evening of Jones’ induction into the UFC Hall of Fame.

Jones has continued to work with many of the coaches and teammates out of the Jackson-Wink academy including Jackson himself as well as striking coach Brandon Gibson. Just days ago, Jones announced that he was splitting with Jackson-Wink on a permanent basis as he looked for a new training home.

It didn’t take long for Jones to decide on the Jackson’s MMA gym run by Urso, which has no affiliation with Winkeljohn but rather serves as a direct extension to Jackson instead.

In a separate post made to Twitter, Jones sounded excited about his plan to return to action in 2022 as a heavyweight with his eyes currently locked on the upcoming title fight between Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane scheduled for UFC 270 on Jan. 22.

“I’m just a few months away now, can’t wait to see who wins this fight in January,” Jones wrote.

Jackson-Wink has not made any public statement regarding what appears to be a permanent split with Jones, who has been a mainstay at the gym since before he became UFC light heavyweight champion for the first time back in 2011.