UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ lone career blemish has the chance to come full circle in his upcoming title defense against Stipe Miocic.
Jon Jones is arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time, as UFC CEO Dana White and others continue to opine. But he isn’t undefeated after a disqualification loss to Matt Hamill early on in his UFC career.
Jones will make his long-awaited UFC heavyweight title defense against former titleholder Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 on Saturday. He returns to the Octagon for the first time since winning the then-vacant belt over Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 last year.
During Jones’ hiatus and injury recovery, a few things have changed in MMA’s unified rules. One of which is the lifting of the previous ’12-to-6′ elbow ban, which was the centerpiece of his loss to Hamill in Dec. 2009.
After the new unified rules went into effect earlier this month, some UFC fighters have taken full advantage of the revisions. UFC strawweight Gillian Robertson struck her opponent with ’12-to-6′ elbows at UFC Vegas 100 with Jones sitting a few feet away.
Jones has the opportunity to utilize a shadow of his lone UFC defeat against Miocic this Saturday. In newly-released training footage, he’s practiced brutal ’12-to-6′ elbows ahead of UFC 309.
Jon Jones is practicing ’12-to-6′ elbows ahead of Stipe Miocic clash
In footage originally shared by Red Corner MMA, Jones can be seen practicing ’12-to-6′ elbows on a heavy bag. You can check out the full footage below.
Jones was likely celebrating when he heard the news of the lifting of the previous ’12-to-6′ elbow ban as a part of MMA’s unified rules. Another rule revision is providing further clarity as to what defines a ‘grounded opponent’ in the cage.
Throughout his UFC career, Jones has demonstrated creativity inside the Octagon, utilizing elbows on the feet and ground. He may nod to his lone UFC setback against Miocic at UFC 309.
Despite the disqualification loss, Jones is undefeated ever since, becoming the UFC’s youngest-ever champion four fights later when he defeated Shogun Rua at UFC 128.
Jon Jones hopes to get only UFC loss overturned after MMA’s unified rules revised
Jones went on to have the most dominant UFC light heavyweight title reign of all time, defeating a slew of legends like Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. After nine years at the top of the division, Jones opted to vacate the UFC light heavyweight title in 2020 for a full-time move to heavyweight.
Jones and Miocic were supposed to meet at UFC 295 last year before Jones suffered an injury just weeks before the event. Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich fought for the interim heavyweight title in the UFC 295 slot with Aspinall knocking out Pavlovich in the first round.
Jones and White hope to get his loss to Hamill overturned following UFC 309. The likely best-case scenario is to get the fight overturned to a ‘no contest’ instead of an outright loss.
Jones is looking in peak physical condition ahead of UFC 309, and Miocic should be aware of some tricks potentially up his sleeve. Don’t be surprised if ’12-to-6′ elbows are a key talking point of the Jones vs. Miocic headliner.