Jon Jones is a miracle of nature. With his long limbs, slender frame, and painfully sharp knees and elbows, the UFC heavyweight champion is a nightmare to deal with. These physical gifts, combined with his freakishly high fight IQ, and unprecedented creativity in the octagon have made him nigh unbeatable and put him on the Mt. Rushmore of MMA.

These gifts also tend to make many fans curious about his ancestry and ethnicity. After all, it does seem Jones is genetically gifted since both of his siblings played in the NFL. In this article, we take a look at where those special genes come from, as well as taking a look at Jon Jones’ early life.

What is Jon Jones’ ethnicity and ancestry?

It hardly needs to be said that Jon Jones is African-American by ethnicity. Since he was born in the United States, Jones is an American citizen and a pretty proud one at that. In addition, we know that Jones traces his ancestry back to western and southern parts of Africa.

The consensus MMA GOAT had an official ancestry test done, which revealed that 42% of his genetic background was from Nigeria, with 24% coming from Cameroon, Congo, and the Bantu people. Of course, Nigeria itself has various ethnic groups such as the Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, etc.

Israel Adesanya, of course, is also from Nigeria (he is a Yoruba), and has a similar tall, thin, and long-limbed body structure as Jones. But we do not know which group within Nigeria Jones’ DNA has a preponderance of. However, chances are ‘Bones’ does know this since he took great pride in his ancestry, announcing it on an Instagram post, and promising to look further into it.

“After months of waiting, I finally got back my ancestry.com results! Come to find out I am 42% #Nigerian! Can’t wait to learn about my culture, and to research stories about all the great warriors and history. It feels amazing to finally know where all this awesomeness originates,” Jones wrote.

Jon Jones’ Parents, early life & background

Jon Jones’ father, surprisingly, was a man of cloth. Born and raised in Rochester New York, Jon was one of four kids born to Arthur Jones, and his wife Camille. His father, of course, is a pastor at a church in Binghamton, which was not too far from their home in Rochester.

Jones was the second youngest of the siblings, with his brother, Arthur being the oldest. He has a younger brother named Chandler and an older sister named Carmen, who unfortunately passed away due to a brain tumor before she turned eighteen. As we have mentioned, all three brothers are (or were) professional athletes.

Chandler was a linebacker for the Las Vegas Raiders, while Arthur was a defensive lineman for various NFL teams, including the Baltimore Ravens with whom he won a Super Bowl back in 2013. In fact, even Jon was a football player back in High School just like his brothers, but became more interested in wrestling and even won an NJCAA championship at the Iowa Central Community College.

It is his love for wrestling that would eventually lead him to MMA. And the rest, as they say, is history. What do you think about Jones’ heritage and ancestry?