UFC 247: 4 times Jon Jones did the unexpected inside the Octagon

Jon Jones has made a career out of doing the unexpected in his UFC fights

This weekend, Jon Jones will defend his UFC Light-Heavyweight title against top challenger Dominick Reyes, and with a victory, ‘Bones’ will have completed his 11th successful title defense.

Essentially – ignoring the periods that he spent on the sidelines, suspended from action – the New York native has ruled the Light-Heavyweight division with an iron fist for the best part of a decade.

Part of Jones’ success has always come from his ability to do the unexpected inside the Octagon – to surprise his foes with a gameplan that they could never have seen coming, or catch them off guard with a rare move or technique.

Here are 4 times Jon Jones did the unexpected inside the Octagon.

#1 His head kick against Daniel Cormier – UFC 214

Jon Jones used a surprising head kick to finish off Daniel Cormier

UFC 182 saw Jon Jones defend his Light-Heavyweight title against his toughest opponent yet, Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier, but the champion was able to overcome his challenger by outworking him inside the clinch and even outwrestling him, taking him down on more than one occasion.

But two and a half years later, the two men fought again, and this time it was Cormier who held the title after Jones had been stripped for positive PED tests.

Early in the fight it appeared that Cormier had drilled everything that went wrong for him in the first fight; he appeared to be quicker and stronger than he’d been in the first fight, and he landed some of the best shots that any opponent had ever landed on Jones.

However, while he couldn’t succeed in the same way he did in the first fight, the champion had a secret weapon up his sleeve.

The third round saw Cormier struggling to get inside Jones’ reach, and as he began to charge forward a little too wildly, Jones caught him with a move we’d never seen him use before – a Mirko Cro Cop-esque left head kick.

‘DC’ managed to stay on his feet, but Jones quickly put him down and finished him off seconds later. ‘Bones’ had always used kicks to his advantage in the past, but never to this extent, and never to this result.