The intrigue of Jon Jones is in his fighting style, but the secret to his success may perhaps be his support system, without whom, the MMA GOAT would have probably crashed and burned, given his proclivity for trouble outside the sport. Widely considered the ‘greatest fighter of all time’, Jon Jones is also a family man with four daughters and an alleged son. Jones is not the only success story in the household he grew up in – his brothers Arthur Willis Jones III and Chandler Jones competed in the NFL with the latter still active in the sport.

Jon Jones, for as a great as he is, is also the subject of controversies as a result of his reckless behavior outside the Octagon. However, there’s probably weight behind his actions, as the UFC heavyweight champion faced quite a bit of adversity growing up, with the most painful being losing his sister Carmen Jones before her 18th birthday. ‘Bones’ doesn’t take remarks towards his family lightly, as seen in his outrage towards his UFC 309 opponent Stipe Miocic who remarked that Jones’ children wouldn’t end up respecting him.

From his hit-and-run incident involving a pregnant woman, to accusations of PED us, and now being criticized for ducking fights, the two-weight champ clearly has a lot of on his shoulders, that would weigh down anyone in his shoes. Still, Jon Jones has shown excellence in his domain as a mixed martial artist, seeming literally impossible to defeat, and virtually undefeated because his only loss came via DQ, when he threw a punishing illegal move on an opponent he was rag-dolling.

So where does Jones get his strength from? On many occasions, Jon Jones has professed a his deep faith in God. This fact isn’t surprising since Jon Jones’ father Arthur Jones Jr. is a pastor. There were rumors making the rounds that Jon Jones converted to Islam, but these rumors had no evidence suggesting he actually made the move. So what religion does the MMA GOAT ascribe to, and why were there rumors of him switching faiths? Read on, to find out!

Is Jon Jones Christian?

After winning the UFC heavyweight championship against Ciryl Gane in March 2023, Jon Jones thanked his “Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” in his post-fight interview. The biggest display of his faith is the Biblical verse tattooed on his chest, which says, ‘Philippians 4:13’ which says,” I can do all things through Christ which strengthen, me”. In fact, Jones’ custom fight shorts for UFC 309 has the aforementioned Biblical verse on it.

The two-weight champion regularly shared him celebrating Christmas on Instagram and is open about is faith, as professed by him in an interview back in 2013. Jones appeared on an episode of ‘UFC In The Moment’ and looked back at the time when despite losing his sister to cancer, he never gave up on his faith – “I had a sister who passed away. She was 18 years old. She had brain cancer. Within two years, her life was over. Considering that she was a light and she was my only sister, it is tough for me. Despite all the questions that I have had, I have never given up on God, never given up on my faith.”

The rumors of him converting to Islam came from an interview with Ariel Helwani. The veteran journalist asked Jones if he embraced the Islamic faith due to the beard he was growing at the time. In reply, Jones said, “Alhamdulillah” (praise be to God in Arabic), but this was probably him paying homage to Khabib Nurmagomedov who popularized the term in the fight community. Jon Jones remains open and steadfast in his faith as a Christian.

What do you think of Jon Jones’ deep reverence for his faith? Do you think his faith in God will help him beat the greatest heavyweight of all time, Stipe Miocic? Let us know in the comments below.