Bad To The Bone

Jon “Bones” Jones, if you are into MMA & UFC. You may have seen a couple of his matches as well. He was fun to watch & his matches never disappointed. You may also remember the big controversy when he was suspended from the UFC for violating their drug policy, but his problems with them & and the law go even further than that.  

Jonathan Dwight Jones was born on July 19, 1987 in Rochester New York. His father Arthur was a pastor & tried to discourage Jon from getting involved in MMA because he wanted him to follow in his footsteps. Before moving on to MMA Jones played football at Union-Endicott High School here his coach gave him the nickname “Bones” due to his slight frame. After high school he attended Morrisville State College to study criminal justice but dropped out shortly after to pursue a career in Mixed Martial Arts.

Jones made his professional MMA debut in April 2008 where he earned an impressive 6-0 record in just three months. On August 9, 2008 “Bones” made his UFC debut where he had another impressive run & displayed unorthodox striking, that included spinning elbows as well as spinning back kicks. On December 5, 2009 Jones fought Matt Hamill and used 1-6 downwards elbows on the poor dude which resulted in “Bones” being disqualified as the MMA had banned the use of such moves. On March 21, 2010 Jones took down fellow fighter Brandon Vera by delivering an elbow to the face, this resulted in Jones being declared the winner & Vera walking away with his face broken in three places ) that elbow was a legal move and earned Jones the “Knockout of the Night” award).

On April 21, 2012 Jones would fight Rashad Evans (one of my favorites) which he won via unanimous decision. I actually watched that fight with my husband as was so upset when Evans lost, oh well. Blah blah blah Jon Jones won the UFC Lightweight Championship & during this time he was awesome. Blah blah blah, yay onto the suspensions!

On November 7, 2016 (hey, I was on my honeymoon!) it was announced that Jones would be yet again suspended from the UFC. The retroactive suspension started on July 7 of that year after doping violations had been confirmed. Two days later it was announced that Jones was stripped of his interim title he earned during his short time back with this UFC. This make Jones the first and only fighter in UFC history to be stripped of a title two separate times. Jon Jones made a return to the UFC once again and did end up fight Daniel Cormier on July 29, 2017. He won the match & was once again held the UFC “Light Heavyweight Championship” title.  But wait! There’s more! On August 22, 2017 Jones was yet again hit with a doping violation after he tested positive for Turinabol, an anabolic steroid.

In September 2018 “Bones” Jones was hit with yet another suspension, this one lasting 15 months (for some reason he did not serve the full 15 months). December 29, 2018, Jones would return to the UFC  in a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson for the vacant UFC “Light Heavyweight Championship“. Jones went up against  Dominick Reyes on February 8, 2020 in the main event of UFC 247 Jones won the fight via controversial unanimous decision. With this win, Jones set the new record for most wins in UFC title fight history with 14 wins. I still think people remember him more for the being stripped of two titles thingy. In May 2020 Jones had a disagreement over pay with UFC president Dana White & that is the last we have heard of him…. for now.

So, what did we learn today? Drugs are bad mmmmkay! Shit, Dana White is better than me because three strikes and you’re out. Well, I suppose White just knows where his bread is buttered. That was such an old person term. Can I retire yet? 

Sources:

Jon Jones (“Bones”) – Tapology

History of Jon Jones – UFC