Bones in the Octagon: The Top Jon Jones Fights

Jon Jones made his UFC debut at age 21 against Andre Gusmao. While there were some good back and forth moments early in this fight, this was also an incredibly raw version of Jones who was still learning to become a striker on the feet.

Jones used his advantage as a wrestler to take Gusmao down several times. Watching this back is pretty fun to see just how much Jones' repertoire grew in a short period of time until his reign as champion.

Jones barely broke a sweat securing Matyushenko to the mat before landing vicious elbows in a crucifix position for the first-round stoppage. From this fight going forward, Jones has only fought on UFC PPV events, a span of nearly 13 years.

At UFC 100, Jones secured his first victory inside the distance in the UFC over Jake O’Brien. Jones displayed good takedown defense in round one with the fight mostly staying on the feet.

In round two, Jones connected on a spinning elbow and locked in a guillotine choke when O’Brien attempted a takedown. Jones switched hands several times before securing it at an odd angle for his first UFC finish and submission. 

In just his second UFC fight, Jones took on the late Stephan Bonnar. Jones connected on a spinning back elbow early in the fight and would secure seven of his ten takedown attempts to earn a unanimous decision victory over the veteran Bonner. 

This was another relatively uneventful fight, as Jones quickly gets Vera on his back and begins to unload ground and pound. The fight ended midway through the first as Jones connected on a nasty elbow, scoring his first TKO victory in the UFC. 

Season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter helped build momentum for this one, as Jones took on UFC veteran trash talker Chael Sonnen. Sonnen landed just six significant strikes and was taken down three times in round one. Jones rained down elbows and strikes from top position to earn a first round TKO in this one-sided beatdown. 

This fight was controlled by Jones from start to finish, connecting on a staggering 238 of 287 total strikes thrown. Jones was able to use all of his weapons to dominate the fight however he wanted to. Jones mixed in front kicks, spinning body kicks, elbows, and takedowns to make it look easy against Smith. A two-point deduction for an illegal knee at the end of round four was irrelevant as Jones still won 48-44 on all three scorecards. 

With the hype beginning to grow, this was viewed by many as the first difficult test for Jones, taking on an unbeaten Ryan Bader at UFC 126. Jones nearly ended this fight on several occasions in round one via north-south choke and later with elbows and strikes. Bader survived to the bell, but could not escape a round two guillotine choke and was forced to tap.

Jones earned his first title shot following this dominant performance.

This fight may not have been that eventful in terms of action, but the build up following a three year layoff, and a move to the heavyweight division, made this a special fight for Jones and many MMA fans. Jones entered this fight as a betting underdog, but quickly emerged as a favorite as the fight drew closer. J

ones easily finished Gane with a guillotine choke in round one to further his claim as the best pound for pound fighter in the UFC.

With over a year out of the octagon, Jones displayed some ring rust while still controlling this fight from start to finish. Jones won all five rounds on each of the judges' scorecards, keeping Saint Preux at distance while mixing in spinning kicks, elbows, and takedowns.

Saint Preux connected on some right hands throughout the fight, but Jones always had a response and did enough to easily earn the unanimous decision.

Five years after their epic first fight, Jones and Gustafsson met again with a bit more build up. Jones had clearly gone to school, correcting many of the openings that Gustafsson capitalized on in their first fight.

While this fight lacked the back and forth of their first meeting, this was also a reminder of why Jones is so great. Jones dominated and scored the TKO finish with heavy ground and pound in round three.

This was the first title defense for Jones against UFC legend Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Jones fought a technical fight early, staying at distance and avoiding big shots from Rampage. As Rampage began to slow down, Jones secured a takedown in round 4 which led to a rear naked choke submission for the win.

Dominick Reyes entered this contest as an undefeated fighter and landed more significant strikes than Jones in each of the first three rounds. Reyes was ahead on two of three scorecards after three rounds, but Jones was able to score takedowns and outstrike Reyes in each of the championship rounds to earn a unanimous decision victory.

It is easy to forget this fight with so many big names on Jones list of title defenses. Glover Teixera was an absolute warrior through five rounds, making this one an instant classic. Teixera absorbed 138 significant strikes, including an uppercut that sent his mouthpiece flying, and three takedowns, to go the distance with Jones.

A bloodied and battered Teixera managed to respond each time he was hit with haymakers of his own all the way through the final bell. Although Jones was never really in danger of losing on the scorecards, Teixera made it an exciting five round fight with his willingness to trade shots while on the losing end of most exchanges. 

Thiago Santos displayed a tremendous amount of heart after injuring his knee early in this fight. Described by Jones as a “high level chess match,” both fighters connected on several big leg kicks and punches throughout five rounds. Jones threw only 90 total strikes, shattering his previous low of 163 in any five-round title defense.

While the volume wasn’t there, Jones was accurate and efficient, connecting on 59 of those 90 with knees, elbows and kicks. In spite of one judge giving the fight to Santos, Jones did enough in the championship rounds to secure 48-47 victories on two scorecards for only split decision win of his career. 

Jones handed Rashad Evans just his second loss in the UFC, in what was Jones’ third title defense. The fight took place primarily standing up with Jones using his ten inch reach advantage to control most of the action. Evans tried to secure a takedown later in the fight but was unsuccessful. Jones staggered Evans on several occasions and landed 116 total strikes to Evans 49 in a dominant display from Jones on the feet.

Jones became the youngest UFC champion in the promotion’s history (23) with his victory over Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua at UFC 128 in 2011. The fight was completely one-sided as Rua landed only 9 significant strikes. Jones thoroughly dominated this fight against a UFC legend, with big moments in round one. By the middle of round three, Rua was slowing down and eating big shots on the ground. Jones connected on a knee to the body and uppercut which backed up Rua to the fence, before a final shot to the body and devastating knee put Rua down just as referee Herb Dean jumped in to stop the fight.

It appeared that Rua was in the process of tapping when he hit the mat due to the accumulation of strikes. A flawless performance and display of greatest from the new 23-year old light-heavyweight champion. 

Jones vs. Cormier moves up the chartsi because of the pure hatred throughout the length of their rivalry. If you are looking for entertainment, go back and watch all of the interviews and press conferences leading up to both fights between these two. Jones would go on to thank Cormier after their second fight (a Jones third round KO) as being his greatest “rival and motivator.” 

While the second fight was eventually overturned after Jones’ positive test for a banned substance, both fights produced moments for each fighter and plenty of excitement. In their first meeting, Jones began to wear down Cormier midway through the fight and slowly took control. Jones controlled Cormier for nearly seven minutes on the ground and landed 34 more significant strikes to win all but one round on each of the three judges' scorecards. 

Jones faced true danger for the first time in his UFC career, surviving a first-round scare after Vitor Belfort locked in an arm bar. “I’ve never had my arm popped like that before… I was waiting for it to break. I was not going to tap. I’ve never felt that before,” Jones said after the fight.

Jones bounced back to secure a submission of his own in the first minute of round four and retain his light heavyweight title. 

Jones was rocked several times by Machida in round one before opening a cut above Machida’s eye in round two which seemed to swing the fight. Near the end of round two, Jones had Machida against the cage and began working a modified standing guillotine choke.

The awkward angle put Machida out hard, with little that referee John McCarthy could have done to prevent Machida from hitting the canvas face down as Jones dropped him. By far the most brutal finish of Jones’ career.

After finishing eight of his previous nine nights via finish, the expectation was a similar fate for Gustafsson heading into Jones’ 7th consecutive title defense. Gustafsson surprised many with his ability to push the pace forward and land strikes on Jones in a way no other fighter had consistently done previously. Jones was cut in round one and even taken down for the first time in his career. Gustaffson was up by one round on two of three scorecards heading into round four.

A theme throughout Jones career in later fights was his ability to win the championship rounds, and his first true back against the wall moment to do that was against Gustaffson. Jones responded in rounds four and five to earn the unanimous decision victory.