Then-UFC light heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones’s showdown with Vitor Belfort handed the MMA legend one of the rare cases of adversity of his career.
Before becoming the UFC’s lineal heavyweight champion, Jon Jones made himself into a legend in the light heavyweight division. During his first UFC light heavyweight title reign, Jones turned away fellow legends like Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans, and Lyoto Machida.
Jones, who became the UFC’s youngest-ever champion when he knocked out Shogun Rua at UFC 128, welcomed a former light heavyweight champ back to the division when he faced Vitor Belfort at UFC 152. Belfort earned the title shot by earning back-to-back wins over Anthony Johnson and Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Belfort nearly took Jones’s arm, and the champion’s belt, in Toronto.
Jon Jones overcame mid-fight arm injury to submit Vitor Belfort in gritty title fight
Jones quickly put Belfort on the back foot in the opening seconds of the first round, and attempted a single-leg takedown before getting Belfort to the canvas off of a trip. With Jones in top mount, Belfort attempted a desperate armbar submission from the bottom, which had the light heavyweight champion in deep trouble.
Jones’s arm visibly hyperextended when Belfort attempted the first-round armbar, and Jones used Belfort like a pogo-stick to break his compromised arm loose. He successfully got out of it, and proceeded to punish Belfort with devastating elbows.
After a chaotic Round 1, Jones went to work in Rounds 2 and 3, landing an arsenal of attacks at the MMA legend Belfort. A spinning elbow from Jones opened up a nasty gash on Belfort’s head, which nearly forced the cageside doctor to wave off the fight.
In Round 4, with a compromised right arm, Jones submitted Belfort with an Americana to retain his light heavyweight throne. It was one of the wildest come-from-behind wins in UFC light heavyweight history.
Watch Jones sink in the fight-winning submission below.
Jones left UFC 152 with his light heavyweight belt, but also left the Octagon with an injured elbow due to the early armbar attempt. Jones had to have surgery to remove bone spurs from the previously injured elbow before his fight with Stipe Miocic at UFC 309.
Jon Jones continues to irk UFC fans with Tom Aspinall fight flip-flops
Fast forward to 2025, and UFC fans are hopeful Jones will return for at least one more fight to take on interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall. The two sides have been in talks with the UFC since November, and Aspinall is becoming increasingly impatient with Jones’s repeated delays.
Jones has floated retirement in recent weeks, and calls for the UFC to strip Jones of the heavyweight belt have skyrocketed. A petition calling for the UFC to take action against Jones is approaching 200,000 signatures.
Belfort will enter the UFC Hall of Fame this summer alongside Amanda Nunes, Mark Kerr, and Robbie Lawler. He retired from MMA after a knockout loss to Machida at UFC 224.
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