Watch: When Jon Jones made his UFC debut on this day in 2008 - after just 9 months of MMA training
On this day 13 years ago, Jon Jones officially made his debut with the Ultimate Fighting Championship at UFC 87.
Despite making his professional debut in mixed martial arts just four months prior, Jon Jones was already coming into this fight on the back of a 6-0 unbeaten record. As such, there was already a great deal of hype surrounding the 21-year-old. Many wondered whether or not he could go on to become one of the next great stars in the promotion and the sport as a whole.
The foundations of Jon Jones
He went toe to toe with Andre Gusmao and while he didn’t quite get the finish, Jon Jones did what Jon Jones does best and put on a clinic before securing a unanimous decision victory.
From that point on, it was quite clear that the UFC had big plans for Jon Jones. Less than three years later, he hit the big time by defeating Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua to capture the UFC light heavyweight title.
Of course, we all know there have been many twists and turns in the Jon Jones story ever since then. However, nobody can deny just how much of a phenom this kid was from the very first moment he stepped foot into the octagon.
There have been rivals and competitors over the years who have made Jon work for the win such as Alexander Gustafsson, Dominick Reyes and Daniel Cormier. Through it all, he still hasn’t lost outside of a disqualification.
The next step on this journey looks set to be a move up to heavyweight which, in all honesty, the MMA world has been waiting a long time for.
Jon Jones appears to be as confident as he’s ever been that he can find success amongst the land of the giants. Given what he’s already produced in the cage across his marvelous UFC tenure, we don’t have all too many reasons to doubt him.
Still, instead of looking to the future all the time, it’s nice to look to the past and remember the origin story of the fighter many still consider to be the GOAT.