Jon Jones

Jon Jones met Jessie Moses in high school and they began dating soon after. After graduation, Jones left for Iowa Central Community College and Moses attended Broome Community College in New York but the relationship survived the distance. They have three daughters together. Jones and Moses became engaged in 2015. He subsequently announced the news on his Twitter account on April 1, 2015. The family currently resides in Ithaca, New York.

Their first child, whom they named Leah, was born in 2008, the same year that Jones made his professional MMA debut. Moses gave birth to Carmen in 2009 and Olivia Haven in 2013. Carmen was named after Jon’s late sister, who passed away due to brain cancer at an early age. On December 1, 2016, in an interview to Joe Rogan, Jones stated that he also has another daughter who is older than Leah.

At the start of his career, Jones used to train with Team BombSquad out of Cortland, New York. He then joined the Tristar Gym in Montreal, Canada. Recently, he has trained with Jackson's MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jones has been the first MMA athlete to be sponsored by Nike on the international level. He is the first MMA star who has his own shoe line.

Jon Jones was born on July 19, 1987, in Rochester, New York, to Camille Jones and Arthur Jones Jr. Jones’ family is deeply religious. Arthur Jr. is a pastor at the Pentecostal church in Endicott, New York and Camille was a nurse.

He has two brothers. His older brother, Arthur Jones III, is a retired professional American footballer who played for Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, and Washington Redskins of the NBA. His younger brother, Chandler Jones, is also an American footballer, who is currently signed to Arizona Cardinals of the NBA. In June 2017, Jones’ mother passed away after losing her long battle against diabetes.

Jones displayed his inherent athletic gifts since he was a child. A stand-out high school wrestler, he was the winner of the state championship at Union-Endicott High School in upstate New York. Like his brothers, Jones was also interested in American football and played in the position of a defensive lineman. Because of his lanky frame, the coach began to call him “Bones”. The nickname stuck as he would later use it during his MMA career.

At Iowa Center Community College, he became the winner of a national JUCO championship. He then came to Morrisville State College to get a degree in criminal justice. However, Jones soon realised that his true passion was mixed martial arts. He dropped out of college to pursue MMA professionally.

On April 12, 2008, in Boxborough, Massachusetts, Jon Jones made his professional debut in an FFP: Untamed 20 catchweight (210 lbs) bout against Brad Bernard and won the match in the first round via technical knockout. His next opponent was Brazilian mixed martial artist Carlos Eduardo. The match took place on April 29, 2008, in Atlantic City, New Jersey as part of the Battle Cage Xtreme 4 event. This was his first light heavyweight match. He won via knock out (punches) in the third round.

His next three matches were against Anthony Pina, Ryan Verrett, and Parker Porter, all of which he won. Jones fought his sixth professional match against Moyses Gabin at Battle Cage Xtreme 5 on 12 July 2008 in Atlantic City. This was his last bout before he joined Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He defeated Gabin via technical knockout in round two for the USKBA Light Heavyweight Championship.

Jones debuted in UFC in a match against Brazilian fighter Andre Gusmão at UFC 87 on August 9, 2008, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The bout went the distance, lasting the full three rounds, and Jones was declared winner via unanimous decision.

His next opponent in the UFC was Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94 on January 31, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This one too went the distance and Jones won via unanimous decision. On July 11, 2009, he faced Jake O'Brien at UFC 100 and won by submission (guillotine choke) in the second round. The fight helped him secure a contract for another four fights with the UFC.

On December 5, 2009, Jones fought fellow American fighter Matt Hamill. Jones started dominating the match right from the beginning. However, as the first round was drawing to a close, Jones hit Hamill repeatedly with downward elbow strikes. As those are illegal in the sport, a point was deducted from Jones’ scorecard for the round. It was then revealed Hamill would not be able to continue because of a dislocated shoulder.