The Real Jon "Bones" Jones: A Decade Later

The Real Jon “Bones” Jones: A Decade Later

We take inspiration from everything, everywhere (not all at once). We find art in the smallest things we use, watch, and have around us. Since the very beginning of Riot we’ve been avid fans of the mixed martial arts world and in particular the UFC.

Over a decade ago we found ourselves attending endless fights around the world working behind the scenes to cover one of the fastest-growing sports. One of the key pieces of content we worked on with Heavy.com was a three-part series titled The Real Jon Jones which covered this amazing fighter’s story so far.

During that time Jones’ career took so many twists and turns and it’s been an amazing ride to watch his evolution. From controversies outside the arena and some of the greatest battles ever fought in the octagon with legends like Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson. Jon Jones has essentially never lost a fight. He has 27 wins and 1 controversial no-contest – Jones tested positive for turinabol, causing a win to be overturned to a no contest, along with a 15-month suspension. The levels that were considered to be a positive during this time have since been reduced causing Jones himself to question the overturning of the no contest on his record. Jon Jones is an amazing fighter is arguably the best pound for pound fighter ever and the biggest name in the sport.

Fast forward to Jones’ UFC title winning debut at heavyweight at UFC 285. Jon “Bones” Jones returned after 3 years, stepping up a weight class into the heavyweight division. He absolutely dominated Ciryl Gane in the fight who is an opponent that every UFC fan had just witnessed slowly smashing through the division. And let’s be honest here, he made it seem super easy and he made a behemoth look out of their depth. After such an amazing comeback journey, we found ourselves diving into the RIOT archives to watch an original story we put together to remind us of how much we appreciate this beautiful and brutal sport.

Shout out to the people that helped make this film – Dave Farra (@davefarra), Matt Brown (@mattbrownm2), Rick Lee (@rickjlee), James Law (@jameslawphoto) and Megan Olivi (@meganolivi). We’re still great friends and stay in touch with everyone involved and are really proud of what we were able to accomplish with this mini series. It’s cool to see that both the UFC pre-show and post-show that we all created together eventually made it to be part of the official broadcast schedule.

Main photo by the ever legendary James Law