This year is shaping up to be another career high for everyone’s favorite convict-turned-country star, Jelly Roll. Between a nationwide summer tour, a national TV performance at a WWE event, and an upcoming music video for his hit collaboration with Post Malone, “Losers”, the genre-blending artist has been putting in serious work.
On top of all of this, arguably one of his proudest accomplishments isn’t a new chart-topper or national performance, but rather his own physical transformation. Since the start of his career, Jelly Roll’s weight has been a prominent part of his image, often discussed with humor, but always lingering as a personal struggle. However, over the past year, the 40-year-old formally known as Jason Bradley DeFord made it a priority to focus on shifting this identity.
He sat down with host Stephanie McMahon and Elyse Ashleigh Dudzinski on the What’s Your Story podcast to chat mainly about his experience and passion for WWE. Additionally, the conversation naturally shifted to the topic of his weight loss, which led him to reveal an extremely exciting new update to his journey.
“I got fat really young, like really, really young, was over 300 pounds coming out of middle school. I’m gonna be under 300 pounds for the first time since middle school the night I walk to that ring at SummerSlam. My goal, though, for the first time since middle school, I will be under 300 pounds for the first time since I was— we’re talking literally now about literally 30 years.”
Since the episode’s release on July 24, that milestone moment is quickly approaching. Jelly Roll is set to make his WWE in-ring debut this Saturday, August 2, at SummerSlam, where he’ll team up with Randy Orton to face Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul. Right off the bat in the video, though, the transformation is visible given Jelly Roll’s slimmed-down face alone. The numbers are even more striking given that the “Liar” singer has lost over 200 pounds, originally weighing in at 540 pounds and most recently at a staggering 357 pounds.
“I weigh in once a month, I weighed in right before I got here, we have the scale documented that month, I’m pretty sure I’ll be,” he revealed while confidently adding on, “I mean I’m doing the work, it ain’t no way.”
He also talked about two other ambitious goals for the following years, including being on the cover of Men’s Health for March 2026, as well as a slightly more revealing photoshoot. “You want me to set another big one right now? I haven’t set another one in a while. This’ll make my publicist hate me. I wanna do a shirt off cover in ‘27.”
He recognizes that this goal will take a bit more dedication beyond his current routine of working with a personal trainer and a strict diet. With losing over 200 pounds comes, of course, a lot of excess skin that he admits will have to come off before whipping off his shirt. “I’m gonna have to get my skin cut…I’m gonna have to because it’s interfering with me and my daily function.”
He hilariously adds on, “and it’s not even an aesthetic thing now that I can take a shirt off and not have saggy t*** it’s gonna be a big bonus!” Now seeing Jelly Roll shirtless might not have been on anyone’s 2027 vision board, but now that he’s said it, we’re all rooting for him.
There’s no doubt that his dedication has been incredibly inspiring and jaw-dropping to watch so far, and a true testament to the hard work he’s been putting in. As Saturday’s upcoming match approaches, fans will not only get to watch a historic in-ring debut, but also the culmination of a deeply personal battle Jelly Roll has been fighting for over 30 years.
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