Jonathan Dwight Jones or Jon Jones in short, is an American MMA fighter currently signed with UFC in the Light Heavyweight division. Also known as Bones, he is the current and two-time undisputed champion of his division. He also held it as an interim champion once, thus taking the total count to three times. As a Light Heavyweight fighter, Jon Jones holds multiple records at UFC, like most number of successful and consecutive title defenses, longest winning streak, most victories and most wins by submission.
Before Jon Jones was a professional MMA fighter, he was a wrestler and a football player in high
school. His two brothers Arthur Jones and Chandler Jones are both professional NFL players. As a
wrestler, he was a state champion at Union-Endicott High School in New York. He dropped out of his
law college to pursue a career in MMA. After his debut in 2008, he amassed an undefeated record of
6-0 over a time period of three months. In his last fight before he joined UFC as a replacement
fighter, he defeated Moyses Gabin for the USKBA Heavyweight Championship via TKO.
Jon Jones came to UFC as a replacement for Tomasz Drwal in August, 2008 against Andre Gusmao.
When he won the Light Heavyweight title in March, 2011 defeating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, he
became the youngest UFC champion ever and then defeated the title against Quinton Jackson. He
won an interim championship in 2016, but was stripped off the title when he failed the drug test
before his UFC 200 match against Daniel Cormier. After returning in July, 2017, he defeated Cormier
to win his second Light Heavyweight Championship, but he failed the drug test once more, thereby
losing the title again.
His potential four-year ban came down to a year’s suspension due to lack of enough evidence and
upon returning, he defeated Alexander Gustafsson in UFC 232 to become the reigning champion of
UFC Light Heavyweight division. His current record is 25-1.
Jones faced off against Daniel Cormier on 3rd Januray 2015 at UFC 182. In a tightly contested bout, Jones became the first person ever to take Cormier down, scoring a total of three take downs and ending up clinching the victory via unanimous decision. However, the win was marred with controversy as Jones failed a drug test one month prior to the event, testing positive for cocaine.
Arch rivals Jones and Cormier met each other in a rematch for the light heavyweight title at the headliner of UFC 214 on 29th July 2017 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Jones put up a spectacular performance, landing a vicious head kick on Cormier in the third round and following it up with some nasty ground and pound, knocking Cormier out and reclaiming the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
Although Jones beat Cormier in emphatic fashion, controversy loomed large over the rematch as well. On 22nd August, it was announced that Jones tested positive for another banned substance named Turinabol due to which the California State Athletic Commission overturned the result of the UFC 214 headliner between Jones and Cormier, ruling it as a no-contest. Subsequently, Jones was stripped of the light heavyweight championship title.
Jones faced the Swede knockout artist Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 on 21st September 2013. In the early rounds, Gustafsson hurt Jones bad, cutting him above the eye but the champ, Jones overcame adversity in the later rounds of this back and forth encounter to clinch the victory via unanimous decision. Although Jones came out on top, it was evident that the Swede gave him the toughest fight of his career yet and fans wanted to see how Jones would fare against Gustafsson in a rematch.
Jones came back from a 15 month long USADA suspension for failing a dope test to face Gustafsson in a rematch for the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship title at UFC 232 on 29th December 2018. The rematch was nothing like the first time the pair met as Jones dominated Gustafsson throughout the fight, picking up the win along with the title via a third round TKO.
Below is the professional MMA career stats:
| Matches | Wins | Losses | No Contest |
| 27 | 25 | 1 | 1 |
Listed below is the MMA professional record of Jon Jones:
| Result | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date |
| Win | 25–1 (1) | Thiago Santos | Decision (split) | UFC 239 | July 6, 2019 |
| Win | 24–1 (1) | Anthony Smith | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 235 | March 2, 2019 |
| Win | 23–1 (1) | Alexander Gustafsson | TKO (punches) | UFC 232 | December 29, 2018 |
| NC | 22–1 (1) | Daniel Cormier | NC (overturned) | UFC 214 | July 29, 2017 |
| Win | 22–1 | Ovince Saint Preux | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 197 | April 23, 2016 |
| Win | 21–1 | Daniel Cormier | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 182 | January 3, 2015 |
| Win | 20–1 | Glover Teixeira | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 172 | April 26, 2014 |
| Win | 19–1 | Alexander Gustafsson | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 165 | September 21, 2013 |
| Win | 18–1 | Chael Sonnen | TKO (elbows and punches) | UFC 159 | April 27, 2013 |
| Win | 17–1 | Vitor Belfort | Submission (americana) | UFC 152 | September 22, 2012 |
| Win | 16–1 | Rashad Evans | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 145 | April 21, 2012 |
| Win | 15–1 | Lyoto Machida | Technical Submission (standing guillotine choke) | UFC 140 | December 10, 2011 |
| Win | 14–1 | Quinton Jackson | Submission (rear-naked choke) | UFC 135 | September 24, 2011 |
| Win | 13–1 | Maurício Rua | TKO (punches and knees) | UFC 128 | March 19, 2011 |
| Win | 12–1 | Ryan Bader | Submission (guillotine choke) | UFC 126 | February 5, 2011 |
| Win | 11–1 | Vladimir Matyushenko | TKO (elbows) | UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko | August 1, 2010 |
| Win | 10–1 | Brandon Vera | TKO (elbow and punches) | UFC Live: Vera vs. Jones | March 21, 2010 |
| Loss | 9–1 | Matt Hamill | DQ (illegal downward elbows) | The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Finale | December 5, 2009 |
| Win | 9–0 | Jake O'Brien | Submission (guillotine choke) | UFC 100 | July 11, 2009 |
| Win | 8–0 | Stephan Bonnar | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 94 | January 31, 2009 |
| Win | 7–0 | André Gusmão | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 87 | August 9, 2008 |
| Win | 6–0 | Moyses Gabin | TKO (punches) | Battle Cage Xtreme 5 | July 12, 2008 |
| Win | 5–0 | Parker Porter | KO (punch) | World Championship Fighting 3 | June 20, 2008 |
| Win | 4–0 | Ryan Verrett | TKO (punches) | USFL: War in the Woods 3 | May 9, 2008 |
| Win | 3–0 | Anthony Pina | Submission (guillotine choke) | Ice Fighter | April 25, 2008 |
| Win | 2–0 | Carlos Eduardo | KO (punch) | Battle Cage Xtreme 4 | April 19, 2008 |
| Win | 1–0 | Brad Bernard | TKO (punches) | FFP: Untamed 20 | April 12, 2008 |
Jon Jones and Jessie Moses are together for a very long time, the couple got engaged in 2013. They are blessed with three daughters, Carmen, Olivia and Leah.
Also Read: Who are Jon Jones' Brothers?
As of 2021, Jon Jones net worth is estimated to be $10 million.
