Jon Jones - Baddest Man on the Planet by Sean Reed

Martial arts legend, Bruce Lee, wiped out large groups of men singlehandedly, handled nun-chucks with the greatest of ease, mastered the one inch punch and finger tip push-ups. Bruce LeRoy mimicked most of that, and even caught bullets with his teeth; but these exploits were featured on the motion picture screen in reel life, not real life. Unfortunately, as impressive as these feats were, there's no documented, verifiable fight record substantiating the true Badassery of either man. Then there's Jon "Bones" Jones (23-1, 10 KO's, 6 submissions), possessor of authentic mixed martial arts fighting skills and prowess; the Baddest Man on the Planet.

With a long, sleek, athletic 6'4 frame and an 84.5 inch reach, Jones not only uses every limb to inflict punishment on his opponent, he's a threat to every limb on his opponent.

Knees from the clinch, flying knees, low kicks, high kicks, body kicks, spin kicks, punches of every variety, shoulder strikes and elbows. Oh, the elbows! Jones can “throw ‘dem ‘bows” better than the Ludacris song. From an upright position, he basically jabs with his lead elbow, he has a deadly spinning back elbow and God forbid you’re on the ground with him on top of you; prepare to be brutally sliced and diced with a pointy, razor sharp funny bone. As a result, a lot of Jon’s bouts tend to resemble crime scenes afterwards.

Speaking of elbows, they're responsible for the only "loss" of Jones' career. In a fight he was well on his way to winning, probably in the 1st round, "Bones" was disqualified for landing 12-to-6 (think of the numbers on the face of a clock) elbows on Matt Hamill. By his own admission, even Hamill considers that win a loss. "Six million ways to die, choose one" is not just a popular 90's hip-hop lyric, it also describes being in the cage with Jon Jones. He’s disposed of foes every way imaginable; via pugilism, pugilism and kicks, rear naked chokes, guillotine chokes, ground and pound, etc. He also has a wide array of submission moves. Literally, there’s nothing missing from the creative, intelligent, combative repertoire of the self-professed “Look, See, Do” Fighter. Because of his versatility, Jones has the competitive arrogance to beat opponents at their own game. When faced with Wrestlers he wrestles, against Brazilian jiu-jitsu players, he showcases that facet of his game. Against Muay Thai fighters it’s a battle of hand/foot/knee strikes and against Boxers, Jon boxes.

In his closest fight to date, Jones unsuccessfully attempted to box with Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson, a very accomplished practitioner of the sport in his country. Gustaffson beat “Bones” to the punch and used his footwork to avoid striking exchanges. Likely down on the scorecards, after 3 rounds, Jon showed he’s not a front runner by weathering adversity, cutting Gustafsson with a spinning elbow (what else, right?) and defiantly taking the final 2 rounds and the decision, in defense of his title. Jon also shook off what appeared to be a deep, dangerous arm-bar in the 1st round vs. Vitor Belfort, literally lifting Belfort off the ground as his own arm was being bent backwards, powering his way out of it. 3 rounds later, Belfort was forced to submit from a keylock arm-bar. Competitive arrogance.



Jones is the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) belt holder at light heavyweight (205 pounds). He just regained this designation with a 3rd round, head kick knockout (along with some ground and pound for good measure) of nemesis, Daniel Cormier, July 29th. Cormier, a 2-time U.S. Olympian in the sport of Wrestling, was taken down to the mat for the first time in his mixed martial arts career, simultaneously suffering his first defeat, at the hands of Jones in 2015. Shortly after this event, Jones was stripped of his UFC title for a hit and run incident involving a pregnant woman, where a bowl of marijuana was also found in his car. Prior to that, Jones had a drunken fender bender. In the interim, Cormier became the champion at light heavyweight.

A day prior to UFC 200, Jones failed a drug test for performance enhancers, was removed from the highly-anticipated card and suspended from competition for a full year. Jon was adamant he had only taken a “dick pill” as opposed to steroids. Which made the result of the Cormier rematch all-the-more impressive. Jones’ own selfish, immature deeds led to him having 1 fight in two and a half years. Nonetheless, with no tune-up bout, he ended Cormier, who’d never been stopped previously, with a head kick. Former world champions Mauricio “Sho-Gun” Rua, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Belfort were also stopped, and Rashad Evans was defeated unanimously.

Jon Jones, now 30 years of age, became the youngest champion in UFC history, at the age of 23. He’s two wins away from breaking the UFC record for most title fight wins and he’d already hold the organization’s record for longest win streaks (if not for the “loss” to Hamill). In the aftermath of the Cormier rematch, he’s almost universally recognized as the best mixed martial artist ever, by announcers, current champions, former champions, trainers and fans.

Simply put, Jon “Bones” Jones is the Baddest Man on the Planet!





