Jon Jones has been warned that there will be ‘broken bones and blood’ involved if he opts to give a rematch to the one man who defeated him.
The legendary two-weight world champion is, for all intents and purposes, undefeated throughout his career. But there is technically a one on his record, handed to him back in 2009 by Matt Hamill during The Ultimate Fighter 10 finale.
Jones threw some 12-6 elbows during what would have been the fight-ending sequence, which at the time were banned in MMA. This forced controversial referee Steve Mazzagatti to step in and stop the fight entirely, declaring Hamill the winner by disqualification for a rule that has since been changed.
Jon Jones’s one career defeat came against Matt Hamill in 2009
Jon Jones has admitted that he was left in tears following the sole defeat of his career. He had put such stock in his undefeated record that he was devastated to have lost it, particularly in such outlandish circumstances.
However, without the pressure of a zero any more, he managed to get straight back into action and move towards a world title. He ended up winning the light-heavyweight belt on multiple occasions and is now up at heavyweight, where he has won a second title and secured his status as one of the all-time greats.
“I feel many different ways,” he told the New York Post during an interview about the incident while promoting his UFC 309 fight with Stipe Miocic last year. “At the time, I was absolutely devastated to lose my undefeated record.
“But over the years I’ve learned to accept that it is what it is. I didn’t understand the ruleset completely and my own ignorance cost me my own undefeated record. Today, seeing how far I’ve gone undefeated I do know that it would have helped me market myself for my after-MMA life
“To be an ‘undefeated fighter who’s also a movie star’ or whatever I might be afterwards. That just looks good in my overall book, so I’d love for that to be taken off my record. To hear that Mr [Andy] Foster is interested is great news. I know that Dana White has tried multiple times and so far we’ve had no luck.
“But my fingers are crossed and our sport is improving and growing every day and I feel like the Matt Hamill fight should have been stopped way before the 12-6 elbows occurred, so my fingers are just crossed but if it doesn’t happen, I’m okay.”
Matt Hamill still wants Jon Jones rematch 15 years later
Despite a general belief that Hamill and Jones’ fight wasn’t all that close, the former UFC star still wants another chance at his old rival. After his ‘win’, Hamill went 3-3 in the promotion and moved around other shows before finishing up his career in 2018.
And after confirming that he can now hear again after previously being deaf, he is keen to get back once more against Jones. “It wasn’t my night,” he admitted during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show last night.
“But if the one-loss record bothers Jon Jones, I told him, let’s have a rematch. I mean, I’ll tell you something. It’s not going to be like Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson. I expect there to be blood, I expect there to be broken bones. So, let’s have one last shot.”
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