Ex-UFC Legend Accuses Jon Jones of Using Illegal Move in Fight for Heavyweight Title Over 14 Years Ago

Imagine your power of sight, the most important sense for a fight, is taken away mid-fight inside the cage. Painful and frustrating, right? Well, this setback is faced by several UFC fighters and has led to some pretty iconic incidents inside the Octagon. Some of the most well-known eye pokes in UFC past include Travis Browne’s TKO win over Fabricio Werdum, Urijah Faber’s eye poke of Jimmie Rivera, and varied eye pokes involving Jon Jones. Fights are stopped and points are deducted—it’s a whole ordeal.

Thus, the UFC brass tried their best to curb this issue and introduce new gloves, too! The promotion decided to launch them in 2024 and introduced them at UFC 301. Known as “3Eight/5Eight,” they were designed to address the concerns of eye pokes. Unfortunately, they did not serve the purpose and were abandoned for the older style. Even veterans like Jon Jones and Sean Strickland did not like the gloves, and Strickland said they “suc—”.

So neither the gloves work, nor do the eye pokes go away. Henry Cejudo experienced a painful eye poke recently while fighting against Song Yadong at UFC Fight Night 252. He spoke about the same with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson at the JAXXON Podcast. ‘Rampage’ recollected the time when he was eye poked by Jon Jones 14 years ago, and that is when Cejudo told his story as well.

Jackson said, “Jon Jones bit-a–.” This is when ‘Triple C’ chimed in, “Were you able to recover?” Jackson replied, “Yeah, I kept going.” Cejudo got excited and replied, “That’s what I thought a lot of people were like. Henry is smiling. Henry’s doing this, I’m like, hold on dude. I just need time, I’m in this ship—to make money, bro. The last thing I wanna do is give up some of my pay. Because you know I got a boo-boo.”

Interestingly, Jackson has previously said that Jones is ‘the dirtiest fighter ever’ and there are incidents where ‘Bones’ has had a reputation of being an ‘eye poker’. He has been seen poking opponents in the eye during fights, including those against Alexander Gustafsson, Dominick Reyes, and others. Naturally, Jackson, who fought him and faced eye pokes from him, did not like his style at all. Back in 2011, at UFC 135, Jones won the fight via submission, but not before giving a nasty eye poke to Jackson 

During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Jackson explained his stance on Jones. “Jon Jones is a great fighter. Even if he were standing in this room, I would say it. But he’s the dirtiest fighter ever,” Jackson declared. “The guy is so smart. He does the most dirtiest things. If you’re doing anything good for him, he’s going to poke you in the eye.” Is this the only thing Jones is notorious for? Well, no. He is also known for taking his sweet time before a title defense. Remember how much time he took to come back and fight Stipe Miocic at UFC 309? He took a 3-year hiatus before his title defense. And now he is taking his time before confirming the title unification bout against  Tom Aspinall.

Tom Aspinall gives one silver lining for Jon Jones’s matchup

Jones made Aspinall wait so much before the title unification bout that the Brit broke the record set by Renan Barao. The Manchester native was fed up earlier with the wait, but Dana White keeps maintaining hope that this fight will take place. Meanwhile, there is no denying that the Brit is pretty unusual for a heavyweight fighter because he not only has the size but also has the sort of swiftness that’s barely seen in the division. But Aspinall claimed that there is another thing that’s in his favor.

The  interim UFC champion wants to fight as soon as possible–that is a no-brainer. But he declared that he is “lucky” to be waiting for a fight at 32 rather than being in his late 30s. “I’m quite lucky in that regard because I don’t feel like I have a lot of miles on the clock, and 32 is quite young for a heavyweight, but I would fight if I could,” Aspinall told Demetrious Johnson on his YouTube channel. He sees the glass half full while the title unification bout is still not confirmed.

Do you think this fight will materialize? If it does, will there be another eye-poke from Jones? Tell us your thoughts below.