With all of the talk surrounding a potential scrap between Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, and Francis Ngannou, the promotion has posted one of Jon’s most memorable fights for your viewing pleasure. And it just so happened to be one of his toughest tests to date.
Back in 2013, Jones squared up against Alexander Gustafsson in the main event of UFC 165. It was a highly-anticipated showdown seeing as how “The Mauler” was an opponent that actually matched up with Jones in the size department.
And that was evident early on, as Gus used his size and reach to not only keep Jones at bay when needed, but to pepper with him his own strikes. He also used it to become the first man ever to take Jones down. For 25 minutes, the two big men stood toe-to-toe and dished out everything they had to offer, all while taking punishment.
In the end, Jones walked away with a unanimous decision win, though he was truly tested for the first time in his career. Jones eventually went on to defeat “The Mauler” again, knocking him out at UFC 232 in late 2018 (see it here). That said, it didn’t quite live up to the first fight, which is still considered one of the best fights of all time.
As far as a fight against “The Predator,” there is no telling if that will actually go down. Both parties seems to want it, all there is left to do is to convince Dana White and Co. to draw up the bout agreements, along with a hefty amount of cash.