Whenever someone asks me who I think is the greatest athlete of all time, my mind immediately wanders to Jon Jones. While some might not agree, his record is second to none. But as much as I am in awe of his athletic prowess in the octagon, his life outside of it has been incredibly chaotic.  

When you talk about Jon Jones, he is either seen as an MMA god who can do no wrong in and out of the ring, or an incredibly flawed athlete whose accomplishments are conveniently downplayed. Today, we will do our best to talk about an exceptional athlete whose life, career, and legacy are much more complex than it looks.

Early Life & Wrestling Roots: Before Jon Jones Became “Bones”

Jon Jones’ struggles and controversies outside of the ring are well documented. But he didn’t exactly have an easy life before becoming an MMA superstar. He was only a young teenager when he lost his older sister, Carmen, to a brain tumor right before her 18th birthday.

Looking back, if there’s one thing Jon always possessed, it was the ability to keep his personal life from derailing his performance. No matter how painful or chaotic life got, Jon knew how to get the job done, even back in his high school wrestling days.

On a lighter side, Jon’s father, a pastor, originally wanted him to follow in his footsteps and preach. Jon even sang in the church choir growing up. While everybody knows he is a religious man today, it’s still wild to picture the choir kid growing up to become one of the most terrifying forces in combat sports history.

​Unsurprisingly, he also played football as a defensive lineman, and his coach nicknamed him “Bones” due to his slight frame at the time. So, if you ever wondered how such a dangerous athlete ended up with a moniker like “Bones”, there’s your answer.

UFC Debut and Becoming the Youngest Champion in History

When I first discovered Jon Jones, I remember seeing his return promo for his fight against Daniel Cormier. I remember the reception that video alone got from the live audience, which made me realize how exceptional the fighter must be. In the promo, they also mentioned that he is the youngest UFC Champion of all time, who captured the title at just 23 years of age.

So, I just always assumed he began competing in the UFC straight after school or even before completing his education. But to my surprise, he didn’t just go to college but also made a massive impact, as you would expect him to. During his time at Iowa Central Community College, he won a NJCAA wrestling national championship and was named All-American.

He later transferred to Morrisville State College to study criminal justice but dropped out to pursue a career in MMA. Interestingly, he did this to support his then-girlfriend (now fiancée) Jessie Moses. Jon began his UFC career on August 9, 2008, at UFC 87, fighting against Andre Gusmao, which resulted in a unanimous win for him.

What makes this win even more impressive was the fact that he took this fight on two weeks’ notice as a late replacement for Tomasz Drwal. Jon is superb at maintaining distance thanks to his height and reach, along with his incredible striking, including elbow strikes and side kicks.

​Often, you can watch a fight of a Mixed Martial Artist and make an educated guess about his background. But Jon Jones is so good at every department that a new fan won’t be able to figure out that he was originally a wrestler.

Over the next few years, Jones continued to wreak havoc in the Light Heavyweight division, and he ultimately got the chance to capture the throne on March 19, 2011, at UFC 128.

Jon didn’t just win. He dominated the entire fight and ultimately secured the championship with body shots and a knee to the head. The visual of Shogun dropping to his knees at the end of the fight would be incredibly symbolic of things to come. A legendary run where he would take on opponents in a class of their own, but none could stand the test of Jon Jones.

Light Heavyweight Dominance, Gustafsson War, and Out-of-Ring Scandals

After winning the championship, Jon Jones racked up wins against quality opponents including the likes of Lyoto Machida and Chael Sonnen. By this point, Jon was looked upon as the final boss of the UFC. He had this undefeatable aura about him: a real-world Grand Regent Thragg, if you will. The guy who finally broke this illusion was Alexander Gustafsson.

The two fought on September 21, 2013, at UFC 165 for the Light Heavyweight Championship. Even though Jon walked away with a unanimous decision victory after five rounds, Alexander did an extraordinary job. He became the first person to secure a takedown against Jon while using his superior boxing skills to trouble the champion.

Jon ultimately turned the fight back in his favor with his high-level striking, including a brutal spinning back elbow. It was the most competitive fight Jon had ever faced up to that point, a war whose impact was much greater than what the scorecard suggested. It proved that Jon was mortal after all.

But while he seemed almost superhuman inside the octagon, his personal life was a complete 180. Jon famously revealed that he used to get blackout wasted exactly one week before a fight, as a safety net. So, if someone ever beat him, he could say he only lost because he got hammered the week before. Just goes to show his immense talent and skill, that despite having a destructive pre-fight routine, he got the win on every occasion.

Thankfully, he has changed this unhealthy pre-fight routine, starting with his fight against Ovince Saint Preux. After his win against Alexander, he defended his championship successfully against Glover Teixeira at UFC 172.

However, it would be his fight against Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on January 3, 2015, that would trigger a dark spiral despite Jon once again getting his hand raised. The fight was extremely competitive, with DC using his boxing skills and Jon with his vicious body strikes and elbows.

Jon ultimately turned all the votes in his favor with his clinching and body shots. But just months later, on April 28, 2015, he was stripped of the title following a hit-and-run incident where his car crashed into a pregnant woman’s car, and he fled the scene on foot.

He made his return on April 23, 2016, at UFC 197 against Ovince Saint Preux for the Interim UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, where a similar story would emerge.

He emerged victorious once again, but was later stripped of the title due to testing positive for clomiphene and letrozole. The tragic pattern repeated itself at UFC 214 when he knocked out Daniel Cormier for the vacant Light Heavyweight Championship. But the decision was later overturned to a No Contest, and he was stripped of the title yet again after testing positive for a turinabol metabolite.

Thankfully, the pattern would stop with this fight, and he regained & defended the Light Heavyweight Title successfully against the likes of Alexander Gustafsson and Dominick Reyes, even though some believe Reyes had won the fight and was let down by judges’ scorecards.

Later, Jon vacated the title and set his sights on an even bigger challenge. One which the promoters and the fans had long wanted to see him take on: the challenge of the Heavyweight Division.

Moving to Heavyweight: Defeating Ciryl Gane and Stipe Miocic

The Heavyweight division is often referred to as the most unpredictable division of the UFC, and for good reason. From a general viewpoint, almost every UFC fighter is world-class. In a way, you can say that the UFC is like a World Cup of the MMA world, which continues to function throughout the year,

So, in theory, a guy ranked at #15 could very well defeat the champion of the division on his day. But in reality, that rarely happens because the skill difference between the two would be substantial. In the Heavyweight division, however, things are a lot different. The champion can execute a picture-perfect game only to get caught by a vicious blow that puts him to sleep.

Jon Jones fully realized the suddenness and the power of the Heavyweight ranks, which is why he was incredibly diligent in his preparation. He took a gap of 3 years before moving up the weight classes to fight Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 on March 4, 2023, for the vacant Heavyweight Championship.

That night, the entire combat sports world tuned in to find out how Jon would fare in the Heavyweight division. Ciryl Gane initially landed an inside leg-kick which accidentally caught Jones in the groin, causing a brief pause just seven seconds in. At that point, people started wondering if he could even hang in the division or if the three-year-long break made him rusty.

Once the fight resumed, he put all doubts to bed when he scored a takedown and eventually submitted him via a guillotine choke at the 2 minute 04 second mark of the very first round. Following the win, he shifted his attention to who he and many consider to be the Heavyweight GOAT: Stipe Miocic.

When the two legends faced off for the Heavyweight crown at UFC 309 on November 16, 2024, the story ended familiarly, though more competitive than Jon’s last outing. Barring a few combinations that tested the champion, Jon dominated the entire fight before securing it with his sharp striking. After this win, Jon Jones later retired from the sport and vacated the title.

Will we see Jon Jones fight again?

As of 2026, Jon Jones is retired from the UFC. While he maintains the door isn’t entirely closed for the right incentive, his body isn’t as supportive. Jon is dealing with severe arthritis, and he qualifies for a hip replacement, but he maintains that he can still fight at the highest level. On the other hand, he, much like the fans worldwide, is interested in a super-fight against Francis Ngannou.

However, he still has six fights left on his UFC contract, so he can’t legally fight under Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul’s MVP/Netflix banner. He said that he is currently focused on getting out of his UFC contract, but it doesn’t seem likely that UFC will let one of their biggest stars walk away easily. 

How will Jon Jones be remembered?

As I mentioned at the start, I will always look at him as the greatest athlete of all time. But even I will admit that it’s hard to separate his controversies from his resume. It’s a shame that his mistakes outside the octagon clouded the admiration an otherwise flawless athlete deserved.

Nevertheless, when you talk about dominance and technical mastery, it’s hard to look at anyone better than Jon Jones. Often when we think about UFC athletes, we respect them for their skills, attitude, and overall impact. With Jon, some people expect him to be an unblemished deity to respect him.

​I hope that with time, those fans realize that even with a hypothetical imperfect record, Jon Jones is still an absolute legend of the sport and a once-in-a-lifetime talent. And personally, if this is the end of Jon Jones’ career, I wanna thank him for taking on an absolutely wild ride of mixed martial arts mastery.