Jones admits he was glad to get in trouble to miss out on ‘scary’ UFC matchup.
Jon Jones’ biggest career regret was also a huge relief.
Throughout his historic UFC championship runs, Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) built a resume filled with Hall of Famers, former champions, and other notable opponents.
At light heavyweight, Jones defeated Andrew Gusmao, Stephan Bonnar, Jake O’Brien, Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko, Ryan Bader, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira, Daniel Cormier, Ovince Saint Preux, Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos, and Dominick Reyes. In total, Jones won 14 championship fights at 205 pounds from 2011-20.
He then moved up to heavyweight in 2023, capturing the vacant title by quickly submitting Ciryl Gane. Jones’ lone heavyweight title defense was a third-round stoppage of Stipe Miocic.
Throughout all of those names, there was one fight that got away, that Jones says he wishes could have happened.
“I ended up getting in trouble and not being able to fight against Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson,” Jones said on “No Scripts Podcast.” “Rest in peace. Man, that kid was so respectful. He’s one of the scariest, but most respectful people ever. I really missed out on that one, not being able to share the ring with such a human being.”
Why didn’t Jon Jones fight Anthony Johnson?
After defending his light heavyweight title against Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on Jan. 3, 2015, Jones was then lined up to face Johnson in the headliner of UFC 187 on May 23, 2015.
The two faced off during the promotion’s seasonal press conference, “UFC: Welcome to the Show.” Jones and Johnson got face-to-face and then started shoving each other, giving UFC CEO Dana White flashbacks to the infamous faceoff brawl between Jones and Cormier. Luckily for White, it was just a prank, as the two fighters immediately began laughing and hugged it out.
However, that April, Jones was involved in a hit-and-run accident, which led to the UFC stripping him of the light heavyweight title. The promotion also suspended Jones indefinitely. He did not return until UFC 197 on April 23, 2016, where he won the vacant interim light heavyweight title by defeating Ovince Saint Preux by decision.
While Jones was out, Johnson racked up stoppage wins over Jimi Manuwa and Ryan Bader. Despite the two exchanging comments in interviews and on social media, they were never paired up to fight again. Johnson died in November 2022 at age 38.
“At the same time, somewhere in my heart, I was glad that I got in trouble,” Jones said. “He was a scary cat. That’s one that everybody missed out on. He really intimidated me a lot, but that’s my job, to go out there against guys that are very intimidating, and I put myself on the line, and I do it with love. But yeah, man. Sucks that I didn’t get to share the ring with him. That’s the fight I missed out on.”
