Top 5 Fights of Jon Jones in UFC

UFC’s youngest champion Jon Jones has had some great fights and finishes in his career. Fighting against top professionals, Jones has an impressive Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) record. He has just one loss to his name and that has by disqualification.

Here is a pick of five great fights from Jones’ illustrious career.

Jon Jones vs Vitor Belfort (2012- UFC 152)

Jones completely dominated the fight that went to the fourth round to regain his light heavyweight championship. It was supposed to be one of the tougher fights during the four years that he held the championship between 2011 and 2015. But Jones was on the front foot for most of the fight and eventually forced a submission in the fourth round.

Jon Jones vs Lyoto Machida (2011- UFC 140)

A standing guillotine choke from Jon Jones knocked Machida cold. Jones was coming into the fight in Toronto to defend his title. Jones came out with his submission move. Machida refused to tap out and fell unconscious with Jones being declared the winner.

With his choke, Jon Jones was subjected to a few questions in the MMA community. A few criticized him for what he did. But according to the victim Machida, it was a fight and that’s what people do in the bout.

“It was totally respectful to me,” Machida had told SPORTV.com (roughly translated). “It was a shocking end to the story. Sometimes, those who hear may wonder if there was any disrespect, but he did his job, choked me and won. You can’t ask him to make love to me, right?”

Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson (2013- UFC 165)

The title bout at the UFC 165 had gone down to the wire. After five closely fought rounds,  Jones won by unanimous decision with a close scoreline of 48–47, 48–47, 49–46.

Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier (2017- UFC 214)

Jones regained the light heavyweight title after beating Daniel Cormier in 2017. It was a rematch between the two after an initial meeting at the UFC 185. Both the fights between two great fighters were highly competitive. Recently, Jones said that he looked at Cormier as an inspiration.

“You know I look at Daniel Cormier as an inspiration,” he said. “For him to be a champion at 40 years old, dominating guys much younger than him. He lets me know that if I do the right things, there’s no reason why we can’t keep up with this next generation of fighters. That’s the goal, that’s the motivation. Thank you for the motivation, Daniel Cormier”

Jon Jones vs Mauricio Shogun Rua (2011- UFC 128)

On March 19, 2011, Jon Jones became the youngest champion in UFC. Jones would successfully defend the title for four more years and become one of the greatest UFC fighters.