Jon Jones is widely regarded today as mixed martial arts GOAT, with his dominant stronghold of the UFC light heavyweight championship as all the evidence you need. Well, that reign started with a then-23-year-old "Bones" taking on veteran and then-champ, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua back on March 19, 2011. Here, DAZN News looks back on the anniversary of Jones' coronation as king of the Octagon.
How Jon Jones vs. "Shogun" Rua came together
Originally, Jones wasn't supposed to fight Rua — Rashad Evans was. However, Evans suffering a knee injury while training paved the way for Jones to take his place and vie for Rua's light heavyweight title, instead. It's not like Jones wasn't worthy, as he was coming off of three straight victories, including a second-round submission (guillotine choke) of Ryan Bader a month prior. Meanwhile, Rua had won the championship by exacting revenge on Lyoto Machida via first-round KO (punches) in their rematch back in May 2010, making the bout against Jones his first title defense. Their fight was set as the main event of UFC 128 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
March 19, 2011: Jones vs. Rua recap
Jones took the opportunity and ran with it. Or, well, ran through "Shogun" was more like it. "Bones" proved that there are levels to this fight game and that he was another caliber above fighters then by flat out dominating Rua through three rounds, before pummeling the champ's body and kneeing him in the head to slump him up against the cage and make the ref end the punishment 2:37 into the frame. Just like that, Jones started his reign as UFC light heavyweight champion.
The Aftermath
The aftermath of Jones winning the light heavyweight title was him proving that he's arguably the greatest MMA fighter to ever throw hands and feet in the Octagon by making a total of 11 title defenses as part of two separate reigns. During his near-decade of dominance, Jones has defeated everyone from Quinton Jackson, Machida, Evans, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson (twice), Daniel Cormier, Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos and most recently, Dominick Reyes.
In fact, the only person who has stopped Jones has been himself, whether by legal issues or personal demons alike. That being said, although Gustafsson and Reyes came close to dethroning Jones, "Bones" has kept his seat as light heavyweight champion, further cementing his GOAT status with each bout.