Jon Jones survived one of the scariest nights of his career on July 6, 2019.
UFC 239 will always be remembered for Jorge Masvidal scoring the fastest knockout of all time.
However, it saw Jon Jones endure one of the toughest tests of his Hall of Fame career.
Thiago Santos almost took his light heavyweight title despite suffering a catastrophic injury during the first round of the fight.
Jon Jones survived scare to win at UFC 239
Santos threw powerful leg kicks that made Jones hesitate during the first round of the UFC 239 main event.
In doing so, the Brazilian contender tore the ACL, MCL, PCL, and meniscus of his left knee.
Santos also suffered a partial ligament tear in his right knee, but he still pushed Jones to the brink of defeat.
Everything changed in round three when it became abundantly clear Santos had a nasty leg injury.
Jones slowly began to make his mark on the fight over the next few rounds, ultimately earning a split decision victory (47–48, 48–47, 48–47) from the cageside judges.
The greatest fighter of all time needed two of his cornermen to carry him out of the Octagon after the fight.
Jones and Santos were both seen using wheelchairs after making their way backstage at UFC 239.
Jon Jones completes retirement U-turn
Six years on from UFC 239, Jones announced his retirement from MMA at the end of June.
Two weeks later, Jones made a shocking U-turn on UFC retirement with a bombshell announcement.
“Just re-entered the testing pool, that lasted for about two weeks,” the 37-year-old tweeted.
“Figured we’d keep everyone’s options open.”
Jones’ desire to fight again appears to be linked to President Donald Trump announcing there will be a UFC event at the White House commemorating the USA’s 250th birthday, this time next year.
“Fighting at the White House?” he wrote on X after the unique UFC event was confirmed.
Jones will now start the process of finding a viable opponent for Trump’s UFC mega-card.