Jon Jones In The UFC 232 Light Heavyweight Championship Fight

UFC 232  Light Heavyweight Championship Fight

This past weekend, UFC 232,  which was held at the Forum in Inglewood, California, features the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between former champion Jon Jones and former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson.   

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Daniel Cormier Stripped of Title

The current champion, Daniel Cormier, who is now focusing on defending his UFC Heavyweight Championship belt, will be stripped of the Light Heavyweight Championship belt.  In October, Dana White said, “Cormier is hurt right now…He broke his hand in the Stipe fight. So when they’re in these types of situations, much like the Conor situation and others that it’s happened to, George St-Pierre, whoever, Cormier by tying up two belts is going to have to give up one of the belts.”

Rematch Between Jones and Gustafsson

Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson have already fought before in September of 2013 at UFC 165 where Jones won a controversial unanimous decision.  There was also supposed to be another rematch in September 2014 to headline UFC 165, but it was cancelled when Gustafsson tore his right meniscus and lateral collateral ligament.

Youngest UFC Champion

Jon Jones was born on July 19, 1987 in Rochester, NY.  He is a two time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time.  He won his first UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in March, 2011 against Mauricio Rua via TKO (punches and knees) in 2:37 of the third round, becoming the youngest champion in UFC history at the age of 23.  

Stripped of Titles

Jones has never lost in an MMA fight, however he has been stripped of his title due to being arrested on felony hit and run charges in 2015.  He was able to rebound, returning to the UFC in 2016 to win the interim UFC Light Heavyweight Championship title against Ovince Saint Preux. However, he was later stripped of the title after failing a USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) drug test days before his schedule defense against Daniel Cormier at UFC 200.  

He was subsequently suspended for a year, and returned on July 29, 2017 at UFC 214, which he defeated Daniel Cormeir via third round KO.  However, Jones failed another USADA drug test (testing positive for turinabol), and was stripped of his third championship, and is victory was changed to a “no contest”.    It was believed that Jones would face a potential four year ban since this was his second violation, but he was only given a fifteen month suspension after USADA decided there was not enough evidence to show that he was intentionally taking banned substances.

UFC 232 moved from Nevada to California

UFC 232 was originally expected to take place at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.  However, on December 23rd, it was announced that the event would be moved to the Forum in Inglewood, California due a an abnormality in Jon Jones latest drug test.  The test found a trace amount of turinabol in his system. This was the same substance that he tested positive for in 2017- which already resulted in a 15-mount suspension.  Because of this result, the Nevada State Athletic Commission would not have the proper time to investigate the matter further to clear the fight in Las Vegas. As a result, the UFC decided to make the last minute move to the Forum in Inglewood, CA as the California State Athletic Commission agreed to grant Jones a license to fight this weekend.  The reasoning for the licensing was that USADA (the United States Anti-Doping Agency- which is in charge of administering the drug tests) concluded that Jone’s latest test abnormality was due to a “pulsing” effect from his last positive test in July, 2017, and was not due to any new ingestion of the substance.

Early MMA and UFC Career

Jon Jones was a stand out high school wrestler and state champion at Union-Endicott High School in upstate New York.  He also played football as a defensive lineman (he is the younger brother of former NFL player Arthur Jones and the older brother of current NFL player Chandler Jones).  Due to his slight frame, his coach nicknamed him “Bones” – a nickname that continues to this day. As a wrestler, he won a national JUCO championship at Iowa Central Community College.

Jones made his professional MMA debut in April 2008, and amassed a record of 6-0 over a period of three years, finishing all of his opponents.

In July, 2008, Jones accepted a fight in the UFC as a late replacement with only two weeks notice.  He was the late replacement for Tomasz Drwal at UFC 87, and took a unanimous decision victory over Renzo Gracie fighter Andre Gusmao.

In his second UFC match, he took on veteran Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94 on January 31, 2009.  During the match, he displayed superior wrestling and unorthodox striking- nearly knocking out his opponent during the first round.  Jones went on to win another unanimous decision victory.

UFC Bonuses and Records:

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During his UFC career, Jon has won the Fight of the Night four time- vs. Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Alexander Gustafsson, and Daniel Cormier.  He has won the Knockout of the Night vs. Brandon Vera, and the Submission of the Night twice versus Ryan Bader and Vitor Belfort. Additionally he won the Performance of the Night versus Daniel Cormier.

In addition to these bonuses, he has the longest win streak in UFC Light Heavy Weight Division history, with 13 wins.  He also has the most consecutive Light Heavy Weight title defenses (8), most successful Light Heavy Weight defenses (8), most submission victories in the Light Heavy Weight division (5), and most wins in the Light Heavy Weight division with 16.

MMA Career:

Opponent             Method                             Date

NC Daniel Cormier NC (overturned) 29-Jul-17

Win Ovince Saint Preux Decision (unanimous) 23-Apr-16

Win Daniel Cormier Decision (unanimous) 3-Jan-15

Win Glover Teixeira Decision (unanimous) 26-Apr-14

Win Alexander Gustafsson Decision (unanimous) 21-Sep-13

Win Chael Sonnen TKO (elbows and punches) 27-Apr-13

Win Vitor Belfort Submission (americana) 22-Sep-12

Win Rashad Evans Decision (unanimous) 21-Apr-12

Win Lyoto Machida Submission (guillotine) 10-Dec-11

Win Quinton Jackson Submission (choke) 24-Sep-11

Win Maurício Rua TKO (punches and knees) 19-Mar-11

Win Ryan Bader Submission (guillotine) 5-Feb-11

Win Vladimir Matyushen. TKO (elbows) 1-Aug-10

Win Brandon Vera TKO (elbow and punches) 21-Mar-10

Loss Matt Hamill DQ (illegal elbows) 5-Dec-09

Win Jake O'Brien Submission (guillotine) 11-Jul-09

Win Stephan Bonnar Decision (unanimous) 31-Jan-09

Win André Gusmão Decision (unanimous) 9-Aug-08

Win Moyses Gabin TKO (punches) 12-Jul-08

Win Parker Porter KO (punch) 20-Jun-08

Win Ryan Verrett TKO (punches) 9-May-08

Win Anthony Pina Submission (guillotine) 25-Apr-08

Win Carlos Eduardo KO (punch) 19-Apr-08

Win Brad Bernard TKO (punches) 12-Apr-08

 

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