To the average viewer, Jon Jones’s victory over Cyril Gane in the UFC heavyweight title fight may have looked like a piece of cake, but Jones actually endured a great deal of suffering during the course of the fight.
After almost three years since his previous fight, Jon Jones returned to the octagon on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but it had no effect on how brilliantly he fought that night. Instead, he destroyed his adversary in a way worthy of a jungle king, giving the appearance that he was more invincible than ever before.
Jon Jones became the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion in 2011.
He became the UFC Heavyweight Champion in 2023.
How many fighters in MMA can win 2 different Championships 12 years apart?
That's what makes Jon Jones special. He's one of a kind. pic.twitter.com/ZDxkwrFQDk
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) March 5, 2023
There was very little room for question that Jon Jones would prevail against Cyril Gane and claim the heavyweight title that was up for grabs. The question was how quickly Jon can do that to cement his position as the greatest of all time. Within two minutes into the fight, the 35-year-old fighter had his opponent on the ground and had him in a guillotine choke position to force him to submit.
Where did Jon Jones suffer excruciating pain?
As is always the case, Bones did not enjoy an easy path to victory. Since Jon sustained a toe injury in 2013, when he defeated Chael Sonnen via first-round technical knockout, he has been required to wear toe tape. In spite of this, the members of the Nevada state athletic commission asked the American mixed martial arts fighter to remove the athletic tape from his foot just before his return battle.
“Yeah, so I broke my toe when I fought Chael Sonnen years ago and ever since then, I tape my toe just to ensure that it doesn’t pop out again. The toe is totally fine. But every once in a while, if I pivot on it too hard, it sends the most excruciating pain up my body and I just never want to compete without my toe taped again. So, hopefully, the proper people hear me and I don’t run into the issue again.” Jones said in an interview with ESPN.
The two-division champ admits that being a world champion, being in his position, nothing is supposed to be easy. According to the new heavyweight kingpin, Baltimore Ravens, his brother Arthur Jones taught him that he needs to have skin like an armadillo.
However, the athletic commission members later cut the rest of the tape off his foot and left his toe taped.
