Following his brutal victory over rival Daniel Cormier a couple of weeks ago at UFC 214, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones is now, once again, the UFC light heavyweight champion of the world.
After being out of action for more than a year due to troubles outside of the cage, something that seems to be a pattern for Jones, he is now back on top and hopefully, he can stay out of trouble this time and go on a real tear.
Despite all the trouble and negative press Jones has had to endure the past few years, his ability inside the cage speaks for itself and he is clearly one of the best if not THE best fighter ever.
Now that Jones has returned triumphantly, here are five things you may not know about him that may surprise you:
5) Jones has the longest reach in the UFC – 84.5 inches
Surprisingly enough, there aren’t even any current heavyweights in the UFC with a longer reach than Jones, which is 84.5 inches.
Even 7 foot tall Stefan Struve only has a reach of 84 inches, making the 6’4 Jones the fighter with the longest reach.
Unlike many other fighters with a long reach, Jones uses this trait incredibly well. Even though it is not measured, leg reach is almost more important as you can strike with kicks from further away – something which Jones does very well; either with the oblique kick or side kick to the body which keeps his opponents at bay and wears them down.
4) He’s a statistical phenomenon
It is no longer a matter of opinion that Jones is the greatest light heavyweight fighter who’s ever lived – the numbers confirm this to be the case in several different facets.
According to FightMetric, Jones has landed more significant strikes than any other fighter in UFC light heavyweight history (1116 strikes); by quite a larger margin too as second place is Forrest Griffin at 796 significant strikes.
Jones also holds the record for total strikes landed – 1368 strikes, as well as the highest takedown defense percentage ever which is 95%.
3) He may have the greatest resume
Jones has beaten the who’s who in the light heavyweight division over the course of his career.
Just look at who he’s beaten since his DQ ‘loss’ to Matt Hamill – Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko, Ryan Bader, Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira, as well as Daniel Cormier (twice) and Ovince Saint Preux.
2) He’s the youngest champion in UFC history
With his brutal victory over Shogun Rua at UFC 128, Jones became the youngest ever UFC champion when he was just 23-years-old.
He successfully defended that same belt 8 times before he was stripped after a hit and run incident following his win over rival Daniel Cormier. He would later win the interim title in his return bout but was stripped of that too after a failed drug test.
Now that he’s won the real belt again from Daniel Cormier, let’s hope Jones has learned his lesson and stays out of trouble.
1) He comes from a family of athletes
When you are arguably the greatest fighter of all time and both of your brothers play in the National Football League (NFL), it’s safe to say that you’re genetically pretty gifted.
That’s not to say that Jones or his brothers aren’t highly skilled too or don’t work hard, but being highly athletic sure helps. All three brothers are clearly elite level athletes and in two different sports too which is very rare.
His younger brother Chandler currently plays linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals and his older brother Arthur is currently a free agent but used to play for the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts.
