UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has officially announced that he’s come to the decision to retire from the UFC at 37-years-old.
The news was actually first revealed by Dana White at the post-fight press conference for UFC On ABC 8 in Azerbaijan last night.
“Jon Jones called us last night and retired,” White told reporters. “Jon Jones is officially retired.”
White has confirmed that interim champion Tom Aspinall has become the new undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
“For you fans. It’s time to get this Heavyweight division going,” Aspinall wrote after the news was confirmed. “An active Undisputed Champion .”
Soon after White broke the news Jones issued a statement confirming his decision.
“Today, I’m officially announcing my retirement from the UFC,” Jones wrote on Instagram. “This decision comes after a lot of reflection, and I want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude for the journey I’ve experienced over the years. From the first time I stepped into the Octagon, my goal was to push the boundaries of what was possible in this sport. Becoming the youngest UFC champion in history, defending my title against some of the best fighters in the world, and sharing unforgettable moments with fans across the globe—these are memories I’ll cherish forever. I’ve faced incredible highs and some tough lows, but every challenge has taught me something valuable and made me stronger, both as a fighter and as a person.
“I want to thank the UFC, Dana, Hunter [Campbell], Lorenzo [Fertitta] , God, my family, coaches, teammates, and all the fans who have stood by me through every chapter. Your unwavering support and belief in me have been my foundation. To my fellow fighters, thank you for bringing out the best in me and for the respect we’ve shared inside and outside the cage.
“As I close this chapter of my life, I look forward to new opportunities and challenges ahead. MMA will always be a part of who I am, and I’m excited to see how I can continue to contribute to the sport and inspire others in new ways. Thank you all for being part of this incredible journey with me. The best is yet to come.”
Jones recent reluctance to defend his heavyweight title has led to frustration amongst both fighters and fans, but there’s no doubt that he steps away from the sport having compiled one of the most compelling cases to be considered the sport’s ‘Greatest Of All-Time’, though held back by some major controversies along the way.
It’s been 17 years since Jones first burst onto the UFC scene aged just 21-years-old in 2008 and started effortlessly sweeping aside his early opponents, including UFC star Stephan Bonnar.
A controversial loss to Matt Hamill in 2009 that saw him DQ’d due to landing illegal elbows in a fight he was dominating remains to this day the only defeat on his 28-1 (+1nc) career record, and did nothing to stop his rise to greatness.
Three finishes in a row over Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko and Ryan Bader followed to hand the now 23-year-old Jones a shot at the light-heavyweight against Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in 2011.
Jones more than lived up to the occasion, TKO’ing ‘Shogun’ in the 3rd round to claim the belt, before going on to beat a who’s who of 205lb talent in the years that followed, including the likes of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson and Glover Teixeira.
By that stage in 2014 Jones had already broken the record for most successful 205lb title defenses (6) and had compiled one of the stand-out title runs in the history of the sport.
Jones wasn’t finished there though, and next came another milestone moment in his career as he went up against what would prove to be one of the biggest rivals of his career, sparked off by a chaotic pre-fight presser that saw the two trading blows on-stage and then continuing to fight as they launched into the assembled crowd before being separated.
This was the start of a more controversial time in Jones career, but he would still go on to beat Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision in January of 2015, though it would emerge later that he’d actually tested positive for cocaine a month before the fight.
A few months later Jones reputation was badly damaged after it emerged he had been fled from the scene of a hit-and-run accident that left a pregnant woman injured, leading him to be sentenced to 18 months supervised probation, while also being stripped of his light-heavyweight title by the UFC.
Jones returned in 2016 and got right back to winning ways, defeating Ovince Saint Preux to win the interim 205lb title to set up a rematch with Cormier, who was now the undisputed champion, at the highly anticipated UFC 200 event in 2016.
However, more controversy followed as Jones was forced out of the marquee event on short notice after failing a pre-fight drugs test, having tested positive for two banned substances, clomiphene and letrozole.
As a result he was stripped of his interim title, becoming the first ever UFC fighter to be stripped of a title on two separate occasions. Jones was successfully able to argue that he had unintentionally taken the substances due to a tainted supplement, but was still suspended for a year.
In July of 2017 Jones again returned to action in a rematch with Cormier for the undisputed light-heavyweight title and emerged triumphant courtesy of a head kick KO finish, only to fail another drug test, this time coming up positive for the anabolic steroid Turinabol, leading to the fight being amended to a no-contest and Jones yet again being stripped of the title.
Jones again claimed that he’d inadvertently taken a tainted substance, and convinced USADA to reduce his latest suspension down to 18 months.
Jones reputation was at an all-time low by this point, but no matter how bad things got, one thing he was always able to do was successfully bounce back once he returned to the Octagon, and so it proved again in late 2018 to win back the 205lb title with a KO finish of Alexander Gustafsson, followed by another three defenses against Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes.
By this stage in 2020 Jones had in total amassed an unprecedented 11 successful defenses of the light-heavyweight title, and came to the decision that it was time to vacate the title and take on a new challenge to become the heavyweight champion.
The initial excitement at this announcement soon led to frustration as it became clear that he was in no rush to return to action, and indeed it would be three long years before he finally did re-emerge to fight Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight title.
And as in the past, when it came time to perform Jones was able to live up to the occasion, submitting Gane in less than half a round to become the new heavyweight champion and take his legacy to new heights.
It’d be over 18 months later before he made what would prove to be his one and only defense of the title against aging former champ Stipe Miocic, comfortably defeating him by TKO in the third round.
Dana White had then touted a potential fight between Jones and interim champ Tom Aspinall as being the biggest fight in UFC history, but Jones was hesitant to commit to it, and after months of avoiding the issue, the matter has now finally come to a head as he’s decided not to risk his legacy by taking one last fight.
Reflecting on Jones career, while there were some major bumps in the road, there’s no doubt that he was one of the greatest, most naturally gifted talents to ever grace the Octagon, and it’s hard to find another fighter who can match his record in terms of the calibre of opposition he was beating fight-after-fight for so many years.
And yet despite all his accomplishments there’s still an underlying feeling of what could have been if he had been more disciplined and dedicated to being the best he could be, particularly during that troubled period in the mid-2010’s and the later years of his career, when he still appeared to have so much to offer, yet only managed two fights in the space of five years.
All things considered, if he’d played his cards right he would likely be the undisputed G.O.A.T of the sport, hands down. As things stand there’ll at least be some room left for debate, though the guarantee is that he’ll never be left out of the conversation after a remarkable, one-of-a-kind career.
