The lone loss on Jon Jones’ professional MMA record came by a strike that will become legal in November, and the current UFC heavyweight champ wants that blemish removed.
On Dec. 5, 2009, at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale, Jones made his fourth appearance under the UFC banner to face Matt Hamil. “Bones” was an undefeated force at 9-0, entering his third fight of the year.
Jones took control quickly and began dominating the fight early. However, at 4:14 of Round 1, he landed a series of 12-6 elbows in rapid fashion while in full mount, prompting referee Steve Mazzagatti to stop the fight. Jones was disqualified without being issued a warning, and it’s the only loss on his record to this day.
Tuesday, an Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports committee voted unanimously to lift the ban on 12-6 elbows. A ban on the “straight up and straight down” elbow strike has existed since 2000. The lift will go into effect later this year on Nov. 1, and it will then be up to each state’s athletic commission to implement the change.
After Jones learned of the rule change, he immediately posted his thoughts on social media, including a plea to UFC CEO Dana White to help him remove the loss from his record.
“Undefeated then, undefeated now,” Jones wrote on Instagram. “@danawhite we gotta get that loss out of the history books.”
Jones has already appealed the result of the Hammil fight, doing so immediately after. The Nevada Athletic Commission chose to not hear his arguments at the time.
