Jon Bones Jones is a well-known professional mixed martial artist whom has become involved in a love/hate relationship with MMA fans the public as a whole. His talent and ability are undeniable while his intuitive ring/cage awareness and ingenuity inside the cage is unparalleled but his outside the ring antics have been the topic of much discussion often overshadowing the aforementioned.

Jones’ highlight reel is one that is arguably filled with some of the most inventive and unique maneuvers executed successfully in competition that we have ever seen and this world champion is arguably the best pound for pound fighter in the world however; this has not always been the case.

On April 12, 2008 at just 20 years of age Jon Jones stepped into the cage for the very first time as a professional against Brad Bernard. What we witness below is the precursor to greatness and although there are flashes of brilliance in the bout, as evidence by a beautifully timed and performed suplex, it is nothing like the Jon Jones that we are all used to watching on Saturday nights as the main event of a pay-per-view.

The video below just goes to show that every athlete starts out more or less the exact same way: hesitant, nervous, scared, and a bit unsure of exactly how things are going to play our or if this sport is even for them, after all Bernard, who was participating in just his second professional bout, never fought again after this event.

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Jon Jones next fights Daniel Cormier on July 9, 2016 at the historic UFC 200 to unify the light heavyweight championship belt.

Jacob C. Stevens is a lifelong athlete and cerebral martial arts enthusiast who is also skilled in the art of linguistic manipulation, his published work, Afterthoughts and Handgrenades, can be found here…