UFC 247: 4 times Jon Jones did the unexpected inside the Octagon

#3 Starting his fight with Shogun Rua with a flying knee – UFC 128

Jones opened his fight with Shogun Rua with an unexpected flying knee

When Jon Jones fought Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua for the UFC Light-Heavyweight title back in 2011, most fans would’ve forgiven the challenger if he felt nervous. After all, he was just 23 years old, had only been fighting professionally for 3 years, and was up against the consensus greatest 205lbs fighter in the history of the sport.

Somehow though, completely confident in his skills clearly, ‘Bones’ decided not to worry about all of that, and began the fight by throwing a low-percentage technique; a flying knee directly at the Brazilian champion. The knee did not knock the champion out, but it definitely stunned him, and threw him off his gameplan to the point where he was easy picking for Jones.

Less than 15 minutes later, Shogun, a veteran of 23 fights against the likes of Chuck Liddell, Rampage Jackson and Alistair Overeem, was left in a heap on the Octagon floor, a completely beaten man, and ‘Bones’ had claimed the title as his own.

Nobody had ever won a UFC title in such dominant of a manner, and fewer still would’ve dared to throw a move like a flying knee in the opening seconds of their first ever title fight.