UFC CEO Dana White states that Jon Jones has informed the promotion he has retired from MMA.
White made the surprise announcement during the post-fight press conference after the UFC on BSC card in Azerbaijan:
“Jon Jones called us last night and retired. Jon Jones is officially retired. Tom Aspinall is the heavyweight champion of the UFC.”
Aspinall has been the interim heavyweight champion since November 2023, when he stopped Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295, and has been seeking a fight with Jones since.
Jones had been the UFC heavyweight champion since March 2023, when he submitted Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, and has defended the belt once. The delay in booking Jones to fight Aspinall has led to a large segment of the fanbase growing agitated, as the division has been held up while the champion had not committed to fighting Aspinall, who wanted to fight for the real championship. Due to the delays, Aspinall has only fought once since becoming the interim champion.
If this retirement sticks, Jones will leave the sport with a record of 28-1 and 1 no-contest, with his only blemish due to an illegal elbow strike administered against Matt Hamill in December 2009, which caused a disqualification loss on Jones’ record.
He won the UFC light heavyweight title in March 2011 from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and made eight title defenses during that championship reign while gaining accolades as the top fighter in the sport. His myriad troubles outside of the cage included a hit-and-run incident in 2015, causing Jones to be stripped of the championship.
Jones won an interim version of the light heavyweight title in April 2016, but was stripped of that title when he failed a drug test and was forced to withdraw his rematch with Daniel Cormier at UFC 200.
In August 2017, he returned to the octagon and beat Cormier at UFC 214, but the win was overturned when he failed a post-fight drug test.
Jones regained the light heavyweight title in December 2018, beating Alexander Gustafsson by KO, and would defend the title three times before moving to heavyweight in 2023.
