The beautiful and disappointing story of Jon “Bones” Jones, aka the greatest light-heavyweight fighter in the history of the UFC.
The story of Jon Jones is a roller coaster of emotions. He is the greatest light heavyweight fighter in the UFC, and arguably the greatest fighter of all time. Jon Jones outside of the Octagon has dealt with no shortage of controversies, some due to allegedly taking PED’s before his bout with Daniel Cormier, and even a hit and run back in 2015. I want to go over the career of Jon Jones, and what has led to him becoming one of the best and most controversial fighters the UFC has ever seen.
The story of Jon Jones all starts in high school. He began playing football as a defensive lineman, and his small frame led to his coach giving him the nickname “Bones” — a nickname that stuck with Jones through his entire career. He then moved to wrestling and quickly realized that he was incredibly talented. He was very quick to submit his opponents, due to his aggressive and lightning-quick take-down style. He would eventually win his state wrestling championship and go onto wrestle at Iowa Central Community College, where he would win the JUCO national championship for wrestling. He originally went to college to study Criminal Justice, which was something that his parents encouraged him to do — he quickly dropped out to pursue an MMA career. Jones’s religious parents did not want Jones to become a fighter, and they encouraged him to stop and become a pastor, just like his father, who later stated in an interview, “I wanted him to preach. I tried to discourage him from being a fighter. I told him you don’t want to do that. You can do other things. Be a pastor.” None of this mattered to Jones though, he knew he wanted and had the ability to become a great fighter.
Jones joined the USKBA (United States kickboxing association) and in just three months he amassed a 6–0 record. Then Jones, with just two weeks’ notice was offered a fight in the UFC, and he accepted. At UFC 87, Jones made his debut against Andres Gusmao — after that Jones had the chance to show his talents on the biggest stage in mixed martial artists. Jones dominated Gusmao using take-down techniques that nobody had ever seen, combined with elite striking, exceptional use of his elbows, and spinning leg kicks. Jones earned the win against Gusmao by unanimous decision. Now Jones had jumped a big hurdle, earning his first win. To get your first win in your first fight is important because it gives you confidence that you could beat anyone they put in front of you.
Jones would go on to win his next two fights, one by unanimous decision against Stephen Bonnar at UFC 94, and one by submission via a modified guillotine choke against Jake O’Brien at UFC 100. Jones’s work in his first three bouts earned him a new four-fight contract with the UFC, likely setting him up for a title fight. His next opponent was another phenom in the UFC, Matt Hamill, and the fight went down as one of the most controversial decisions in UFC history. In the last two minutes of the first round during which Jones had been dominating Hamill, Hamill was stuck on his back and Jones began throwing multiple 12–6 elbows at Hamill’s nose, a move that is illegal in the UFC due to the severity of injuries the blows can cause. The fight was originally just stopped and Jones was given a penalty, but due to Hamill dislocating his shoulder, Hamill was awarded the win. President of the UFC, Dana White, has never been one to shy away from speaking his mind — he believes the disqualification of Jones should be overturned, “The guy’s never lost a fight ever. That one loss on his record, we’re trying to get that (overturned).” The fight occurred in 2009, and as recently as 2019, White is still trying to get the ruling overturned. During his post-game interview with Ryan Bader at UFC 126, Joe Rogan announced to him that Rashard Evans had to drop out of the title fight between him and Shogun Rua that was set to occur in just six weeks. Jones was offered the fight and he accepted, even on short notice. Now Jones had a chance at getting the ultimate prize, a UFC title belt.
The fight between Jones and Rua was a dominant one for Jones. He controlled Rua for the entirety of the bout and in the third round after brutal blows to the head, Jones landed a knee to Rua’s jaw and the fight was over. Jones was now a UFC champion. He defended his title against Quinton Jackson, submitting him with a rear-naked choke in the fourth round, Jones becoming the first person to submit Jackson. His next fight would be his toughest challenge yet, as he was slated to fight Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. Machida has been a fighter his whole life, he began learning karate at age three, and at the time was considered one of the premier fighters in the UFC. Jones got rocked by Machida in the first round, and it was the first time the world had actually seen Jon Jones get hit hard. It looked like Machida had Jones figured out, but that all changed in round two. Jones battered Machida, and while up against the cage, Jones got Machida in a standing guillotine choke, and Machida’s whole body went limp and the fight was over. Just like with Jackson, Jones handed Machida his first submission loss in his career.
Jones would go on to have a record of 12–1 in the UFC and he was becoming the sports biggest star. He had tied Tito Ortiz’s record of most consecutive title defences at 5. To break the record, he was slated to fight the Swedish phenom, Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson at UFC 165. Whether Jones knew it or not, the fight would be the toughest in his career, and eventually became the greatest title fight the light-heavyweight division of the UFC had ever seen. Gustafsson cut Jones’s eye badly during the first round and it was clear that Jones had met his match. The fight was amazing, both fighters held control at different times, and they went the whole five rounds, something Jones rarely has to do. Jones won the fight by unanimous decision and broke the record for most consecutive title defences.
Now we get to the disappointing part of Jon Jones’s legacy. Starting in early 2015, Jones would go on to have the worst three years of not only his career but his life. In April of 2015, Jones was involved in a hit and run, and he fled the scene but came back later to his car in order to retrieve his bong. What made matters worse was the fact that the person he hit was a pregnant woman. Thankfully, both the women and her baby suffered no serious injuries. Jones was stripped of his belt, which he had held from March 2011- April 2015, and he was suspended from the UFC indefinitely. The news shocked the UFC and all their fans. Arguably, the best fighter in the sport had just been kicked out. The ban was lifted six months after it had been put into effect, and Jones was officially allowed to fight again. His first fight back was supposed to be against his future rival, Daniel Cormier. Cormier had to pull out of the fight due to a foot injury, and Jones would go on to fight Ovince Saint Preaux, who he would defeat by unanimous decision. Jones was now the interim light-heavyweight champion, but in order to become the official champion again, he was going to have to fight Cormier. Jones vs. Cormier was scheduled for UFC 200, but things got worse for Jones. Jones was removed from the fight due to a potential doping violation. He was then stripped of his title, becoming the first UFC fighter ever to be stripped of a title twice. Jones stated in an interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast that he had taken an off-brand Cialis pill, which had caused the test to come back positive. He was banned for a year, but upon his return yet another rematch was scheduled between Jones and Cormier. The two finally fought at UFC 214 in July of 2017. Jones won the fight by knockout in the third round after an onslaught of punches to Cormier’s head, and a brutal head kick to cap it off. Jones had won his title back again. Then if you didn’t think things could get any worse for Jones, they did. After the fight, it was revealed that Jones had failed his drug test — but it wasn’t because of Cialis this time. Jones tested positive for Turinabol, which is an anabolic steroid, most commonly used by baseball players such as Jose Canseco, and Sammy Sosa. Turinabol is similar to injected testosterone, but it strengthens the muscles faster and more effectively. The fight between Cormier and Jones was officially changed to a no contest. Jones was handed an 18-month suspension.
Jones talked about the experience he had after all his controversy on Joe Rogan’s podcast. He talked about how he truly felt that he was invincible and that nothing was going to stop him, something I can definitely understand. Jones even went on to say that he would get blackout drunk a week before every fight. The reason behind that decision was so if he lost he had something to blame it on. The point being, Jon Jones was on top of the UFC world, he was continually destroying every single opponent put in front of him, and until the Gustafsson fight, he had never had to go through much adversity. Jones owned up to his mistakes and seemed like he was ready to change moving forward.
Jones would come back after his suspension at UFC 232, where the world would get one of the most sought after rematches in the history of the sport, Jones vs Gustafsson 2. Jones controlled the entire fight, he seemed like he had figured out what Gustafsson’s leaks were in his time away. He defeated Gustafsson in the third round by TKO, and yet again he was the light heavyweight champion of the UFC. Since that fight, Jones has defended his title three times, and to this day, he is still the light heavyweight champion.
Jones has been in a battle with Dana White and the UFC ever since his latest return. Jones has a lot of value to the UFC and he knows it, so he wants to be paid accordingly. White says that Jones thinks he’s worth “Deontay Wilder money” referencing the $25–30 million that Wilder made from his rematch against Tyson Fury in February of this year. Just recently, Jones was called out by none other than Mike Tyson. Tyson stated he would be interested in fighting Jones, not in MMA, but insinuating that Jones would have to put on boxing gloves if he wanted to accept. As we saw with Conor McGregor when he fought Floyd Mayweather, it’s difficult for an MMA fighter to get out of the octagon and into the boxing ring. Jones is lethal with his combination of spinning leg kicks and elbow shots, both things he can’t do in a boxing ring. Will we ever see Tyson vs Jones? I’d bet against it, but they can have my money if they make it happen.
To end this roller coaster ride we had with Jon Jones, at least one thing is true to me, and that is that Jon Jones is the greatest light heavyweight fighter in UFC history. Jones is 26–1 in his professional MMA career and that single loss is still being disputed by the President of the UFC for over 10 years. Jones has forced almost every opponent he’s faced out the octagon bruised and battered. Jones has never actually lost his title due to losing a fight either, only because of his actions outside of the octagon. Jones has been embroiled in controversy for the last few years, and he only has himself to blame. He is only 32, so he likely still has a couple of years left in his prime, but he could fight for years after that. Just look at Anderson Silva, who in his prime was the greatest fighter ever, but he is 45 and still fighting, and winning some of those fights. If Jon Jones can keep his act up outside of the octagon, then I believe 5–10 years down the line we might be calling him the greatest fighter in UFC history.
