UFC 235: A timeline of every single Jon Jones title defense

A detailed timeline of every single title defense in the career of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones faces Anthony Smith in the main event of UFC 235 in which is a title defense for Jones. Now, we look back on Jones’ previous title defense throughout his 24 fight, 11-year career.

Sept. 24, 2011

Jones earned a title shot against champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128  where he defeated Rua via third-round TKO. Jones returned later that year to defend his title for the first time when he faced Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 135. Jones defeated Jackson via fourth-round submission (rear-naked choke). Jones was only the second man to ever submit Jackson, alongside Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba.

Dec. 10, 2011

Jones stayed active and closed out 2011 with a title defence against Brazilian striker Lyoto Machida. After a tough first round, Jones dropped Machida and then submitted him via guillotine choke in the second round to earn the victory in his second defense. With that win, he advanced to 4-0 in 2011.

April 21, 2012

A few months later, Jones returned to the Octagon and faced rival and former teammate Rashad Evans at UFC 145. Jones went the distance for the first time in a title bout and defeated former champion Evans via unanimous decision for his third title defense.

Sept. 22, 2012

Originally meant to face Dan Henderson at UFC 151, Jones would end up facing Vitor Belfort instead when Henderson was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury. Jones faced adversity after surviving a brutal armbar attempt to submit Belfort early into round four via kimura to retain his light heavyweight championship.

April 27, 2013

After coaching The Ultimate Fighter 17, Jones would face former middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen. As expected, Jones made short work of Sonnen defeating him via first-round TKO.

Sept. 21, 2013

Jones then faced his stiffest test to date as he fought Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson in an instant classic at UFC 165. After a back-and-forth bout, Jones earned a unanimous decision victory in a close contest. Undoubtedly the hardest test of his career, but Jones won again.

April 26, 2014

Going for the seventh defense of his belt, Jones faced 24 fight veteran Glover Teixeira at UFC 172. Jones dominated the Brazilian to win via unanimous decision in his only appearance in 2014.

Jan. 3, 2015

Jones then faced undefeated Olympian Daniel Cormier for all the marbles. Jones and Cormier had heated build-up prior the bout that carried on throughout and after the fight, but Jones defeated another rival as he won the fight via unanimous decision. To date Jones is the only man to defeat Cormier in MMA competition.

2015-2017

Throughout this timeframe, Jones got stripped of his light heavyweight title for a hit and run incident, returned, defeated Ovince Saint Preux for the interim light heavyweight title. He was stripped again after failing a drug test. He would return again and won the title back against Cormier but would have the result overturned to a no contest after another failed a drug test. He was stripped of the title again.

Dec. 29, 2018

After serving the suspension by USADA, Jones was cleared to fight again and rematched Gustafsson for the vacant light heavyweight title. After chaos occurred when the whole event was moved from Las Vegas to California just to save the main event, Jones finally made his Octagon return. Jones ended any doubt left over from the first bout with Gustafsson when he finished Gustafsson in the third round via ground and pound.

March 2, 2019

Jones will face Anthony Smith for his first title defense since 2014.

UFC 235 takes place on Saturday, March 2, 2019, live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Follow along with FanSided MMA, who will be in attendance for the event, for all your live results and highlights throughout fight week.