UFC Full Fight Video: Watch Jon Jones Become The Youngest UFC Champion

Jon Jones was 23 years old and three years removed from his professional MMA debut when he stepped into the octagon at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey to meet UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the main event of UFC 126. Jones’ record was 12-1 with his only loss being a controversial disqualification defeat to Matt Hamill. In his his three outings leading up to his matchup against Rua, Jones had two first-round finishes and one finish in the second stanza. Jones was a -223 favorite over Rua, who came in as the +120 underdog.

Jones wasn’t the UFC’s first choice for this matchup. Rashad Evans was initially booked opposite Rua, but with Evans pulling out of the bout with a knee injury, the UFC asked Jones to step in on less than a month’s notice. Jones accepted and stepped in for Evans, who was Jones’ teammate at Jackson Wink MMA. 

Rua was six years older than Jones when the two meet, but he had been fighting for nine hard years before he faced the young upstart. That included a run as one of the best fighters under the PRIDE banner where he won the 2005 middleweight grand prix. 

Jones had an eventful day even before he and his team made their way to the Prudential Center, Jones thwarted a crime in progress. Jones, along with his coach, Greg Jackson, subdued a man who had broken into a car to steal a GPS. 

Hours later, Jones opened his first UFC title fight by landing a flying knee to the body of the champ. Jones didn’t ease up on his attack and when he got the fight to the mat, he did his beast to land elbows from the top position. Some of those blows landed, but none did as much damage as the blows Jones landed when the fight got back to standing against the cage. By the time the first round ended, Rua was breathing heavily and looked to be out of his depth. 

Jones looked fresh and relaxed at the start of the second stanza. The challenger used kicks early and then forced Rua to the cage where he landed a beautiful spinning elbow to the champ’s head. Rua circled to the center of the cage, but his offense was ineffective, as he missed more strikes than he landed. Meanwhile, Jones’ varied offense had him landing most of the strikes he attempted. When the fight went to the mat, Jones again looked to land as many elbows as he could, while Rua struggled to keep Jones from posturing up and getting the space to land his strikes.

The champ’s face was bloody and swollen when the third round began. Jones was unmarked. Early in the stanza, Rua attempted a leg lock, but all it did was land him on his back and once again eating elbows and punches to his head. Halfway through the round Jones hurt Rua on the ground. The fight then went back to standing where Jones backed Rua to the cage and finished the fight with strikes.

As the cageside medical staff tended to Rua, Jones sat on the mat with a single drop of blood rolling off his chin and soaked in the moment as UFC commentator Joe Rogan said, “That ladies and gentlemen is the future. He is the present and he is the future and he might be the greatest talent that we ever see in the UFC.” 

With the win, Jones became the youngest champion in UFC history, a record he still holds over nine years later.