Since his UFC debut in 2008, Jon Jones has been through several ups and downs. He only has one DQ loss against Matt Hamill and boasts a record 15 title wins in the promotion. However, arrests and suspensions for performance-enhancing drug usage has compelled many fans to turn on him.
Jones never refrains from acknowledging such upsets, though. He claims to use his religion to learn from his mistakes and get ahead in life. Although he’s mostly come off as an ardent Christian, rumors regarding his conversion to Islam have surfaced at times as well.
So, here’s what religion Jones follows and whether he has converted to Islam…
What is Jon Jones’ Religion?
Jones follows Christianity and there are countless incidents to support this. After winning the UFC heavyweight championship against Ciryl Gane in March 2023, he thanked Jesus Christ in his post-fight interview.
Another huge giveaway is the former UFC light heavyweight kingpin’s chest tattoo. It says “Philippians 4:13” which is based on a verse from the Bible stating:
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
My way of saying thanks to the beautiful city of Albuquerque for showing me love over the years. I literally pray for this city every day. Merry Christmas guys pic.twitter.com/y9NFAd9WW9
— BONY (@JonnyBones) December 22, 2019
On top of this, “Bones” repeatedly talks about Jesus Christ in high regard on his socials. He also shares moments celebrating Christian festivals and appreciates Bible verses on these platforms.
Back in 2013, Jones appeared on an episode of UFC In The Moment and looked back at the time when doubted doubt religion after his sister passed away.
“Spirituality is what makes me do the right thing when no one is looking. To know someone is watching you when no one is watching you. I think it is an important thing to have. But I have also had times in my life where I have questioned religion. I had a sister who passed away. She was 18 years old. She had brain cancer. Within two years’ time, her life was over. Considering that she was a light and she was my only sister, it is tough for me. Despite all the questions that I have had, I have never given up on God, never given up on my faith.”
Did Jon Jones Convert To Islam?
No, Jones never converted to Islam and has only professed faith in Christianity. However, a few misinterpreted incidents have birthed rumors that he’s converted.
These include Jones joking about converting to Islam when Ariel Helwani once asked him about his beard in an interview. In other interviews, he also said the Arabic term Alhamdulillah, used to thank and praise God.
In hindsight, one can easily make out that Jones simply respects Islam. He revealed in the same interview that he grew a beard for no specific reason. Similarly, Arabic phrases like Alhamdulillah are widely used in pop culture regardless of the speaker’s religion.
Read More: Steve Erceg Backs ‘Precedent’ Set By Releasing Muhammad Mokaev After Alleged Behavior Toward UFC Staff
Continue Reading Jon Jones’ Religion: Debunking Rumors About UFC Great’s Links To Islam at MMA News.
Amid the ongoing rollercoaster that surrounds his UFC return, Jon Jones is still finding time to have fun.
‘Bones’ is widely regarded as one of the greatest combat sports athletes ever. Despite his accolades in mixed martial arts, some believe he is afraid to put his legacy on the line against the younger, hungrier contender Tom Aspinall.
After months of defending his choice not to fight Aspinall next, Jon Jones has given up responding to fans. Now, Jones has instead used them to play a prank on a mystery person.
In a post on social media, the UFC heavyweight champion posted a phone number. In a message adjacent to the number, the 37-year-old urged fans to text and call if they want him to agree to the aforementioned Tom Aspinall challenge.
“If you want me to fight Tom, call and text me,” Jones stated in a post on X. “I’ll respond for the next few days.”
If you want me to fight Tom call and text me, I’ll respond for the next few days pic.twitter.com/bPdG7geaIE
— BONY (@JonnyBones) August 6, 2024
Supporters instantly realized that Jon Jones was playing a prank. While it’s unclear which unfortunate person will be receiving countless phone calls and text messages for the next few weeks, the picture clearly shows that they have ties to Greenview, Illinois.
Related: Jon Jones announces decision to retire
However, this wasn’t the last time we heard from him on the matter. Jones later wrote another post on social media, pressing fans to continue texting the number until they get a response.
“If the phone ends up getting turned off, just keep texting,” Jones said. “You’ll get a reply soon.”
If the phone ends up getting turned off, just keep texting. You’ll get a reply soon.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) August 6, 2024
This comes just days after Jon Jones dropped a bombshell on the world. While Jones will be competing against Stipe Miocic — likely later this year — it very well may be his final fight inside the octagon.
If both Jones and Miocic retire following their rumored bout, Tom Aspinall will most probably see his interim title upgraded to undisputed.
Jon Anik stands by his performance at UFC 304 — most notably, his call of the main event.
Anik, who called the event alongside Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping this past July in Manchester, England, took some criticism for how he called the welterweight title fight between new champion Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards. The longtime play-by-play voice of the UFC is part of the Anik & Florian Podcast group of shows, which includes a program hosted by Muhammad and Anik’s twin brother Jason. Consequently, a friendship has grown from the relationship.
While some fans criticized his call of the fight, Anik went back and re-watched it, and as someone who strives for perfection on every broadcast, he was totally fine with how it sounded live.
“I have interpersonal relationships on both sides of this,” Anik told MMA Fighting. “I actually go further back with Leon than I do with Belal. Tim Simpson, [Leon’s] manager, is a good friend of mine, and historically, for me, the call that has, I think, helped my career the most was something that relates to Leon Edwards. If you listen to the Anik & Florian Podcast, our show open ends with Leon Edwards saying, ‘Head shot dead,’ right? So there’s a lot of connective tissue and interpersonal stuff for me on both sides of all of these fights.
“But yeah, I felt like the call was down the line. … Now, you can imagine all the different things that commentators hear from fans and fighters and coaches and bosses over the years. But I sleep well at night, I stand by that call, and I stand by Belal Muhammad as a friend. When we launched his podcast with my twin brother, four or five years ago, whatever it was, he had 18,000 Instagram followers. He was unranked. We believed in him in terms of him having a social media presence, and that he could maybe become a contender, if not championship athlete. And you know what? We bet on the right f*cking guy, and if I got married a second time, he might be a f*cking groomsman.
“So I can’t help that I have friendships that I have developed in this sport, but you can be sure I’m not as close with Belal as I am with Dominick Cruz, and once any of these guys hit the tunnel or hit the inspection zone, last thing I’m thinking about is their mothers and their brothers and the interpersonal stuff. So, it is what it is, it comes with the territory and people who don’t want to credit this win in this historically great division by Belal Muhammad? Cry. Cry.”
Following Muhammad’s win, Anik did take a bit of a victory lap on social media, but when it comes to the broadcast itself, and when the lights are on, Anik is a consummate professional who calls fights right down the middle regardless of who is involved.
Now that the dust has settled in regards to the event, Anik revealed how he saw the matchup on paper heading into it — and it may be surprising to some.
“I didn’t like him in the fight,” Anik said. “Can I say that now? Does that sound objective? I still believe Leon Edwards is the toughest matchup for him in the welterweight division, and Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Ian Machado Garry, and Sean Brady and others are right there — [and] this was a big result for Sean Brady, who I think is a cannonball coming in his own if he can get past Gilbert ‘Durinho’ Burns — but I still think Leon is the toughest matchup for Belal. And even though promotionally, they don’t want to go in the direction of a trilogy and an immediate run back of that title fight between Belal Muhammed and Leon Edwards, I have an appetite for it, and I actually believe Leon, if not, some long-reigning champion probably deserves it.
“If Shavkat is not ready, or Usman’s not ready, or another guy I’m not thinking of is not ready, I can assure you, Leon would shorten up a training camp to — as he says — try to get this back in blood.”
Former ONE Championship flyweight champion Adriano Moraes has booked his first fight in over a year when he returns for a rematch against Danny Kingad at the upcoming ONE 169 scheduled in Atlanta on Nov. 8
ONE Championship officials confirmed the matchup to MMA Fighting on Thursday.
The matchup against Kingad serves as Moraes’ return to action after he suffered back-to-back losses to Demetrious Johnson as they completed a trilogy of fights. Moraes pulled off a stunning knockout to beat Johnson back in 2021 to defend his ONE flyweight title.
Johnson then got revenge with a knockout of his own in the rematch in 2022 before the Brazilian dropped a unanimous decision to the former UFC champion back in May 2023. Moraes hasn’t fought since that night.
He returns against Kingad, who is a mainstay in the ONE flyweight division after first debuting with the promotion back in 2016. Kingad actually fought Moraes in his fourth appearance with ONE but suffered a submission loss in the first round with the flyweight title up for grabs.
Following that loss, Kingad won his next six fights in a row before he also fell to Johnson via decision in the finals of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix.
Now almost exactly seven years after they first met, Moraes and Kingad meet again in the second ONE Championship card in the United States in 2024 following an event scheduled in Denver in September.
Note: Date and start times reflect stateside broadcast commitments on ESPN. Fans attending UFC 305: “Du Plessis vs. Adesanya” in person at RAC Arena should plan for a Sunday morning start time (Aug. 18) with early Prelims beginning at 6:30 a.m. AWST, continued with late Prelims at 8 a.m. AWST, followed by the UFC 305 Main Card lineup at 10 a.m. AWST (times subject to change).
Event: UFC 305 “Du Plessis vs. Adesanya” Date: Sat., Aug. 17, 2024 Location: RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia Start times: ESPN+ PPV, ESPN, ESPN+ (6:30 p.m. ET Prelims | 10 p.m. ET Main Card)
UFC 305 Main Event On ESPN+ PPV:
185 lbs.: UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya
UFC 305 Main Card On ESPN+ PPV (10 p.m. ET):
125 lbs.: Kai Kara-France vs. Steve Erceg 155 lbs.: Mateusz Gamrot vs. Dan Hooker 265 lbs.: Tai Tuivasa vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik 170 lbs.: Jingliang Li vs. Carlos Prates
UFC 305 Prelims Card On ESPN/ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET):
265 lbs.: Junior Tafa vs. Valter Walker 145 lbs.: Josh Culibao vs. Ricardo Ramos 125 lbs.: Casey O’Neill vs. Luana Santos 145 lbs.: Jack Jenkins vs. Herbert Burns
UFC 305 Early Prelims Card On ESPN+ (6:30 p.m. ET):
155 lbs.: Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes 170 lbs.: Song Kenan vs. Ricky Glenn 125 lbs.: Stewart Nicoll vs. Jesus Aguilar
*Fight card, bout order and number of fights remain subject to change.*
Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya | Photo by Will Russell/Zuffa LLC
UFC 305 is a legacy-defining card nearly two years in the making.
This Saturday, Dricus du Plessis defends his middleweight title against former two-time champion Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 305, in Perth, Australia. It’s a fight that’s been building for months upon months, with heaps of expectation and intrigue surrounding it. Can du Plessis back up his mountains of trash talk or will Adesanya join Randy Couture as only the second fighter ever to win a third title in the same weight class?
But before that, in the co-main event, former flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg makes his return to the cage after falling short against champion Alexandre Pantoja, taking on perennial contender Kai Kara-France on home soil. How will this fight affect the flyweight division and Pantoja’s stranglehold on the weight class?
MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew, Damon Martin, and Shaun Al-Shatti convene to chat about some of the biggest storylines heading into UFC 305 this weekend.
1. Who has more riding on a win at UFC 305, Dricus du Plessis or Israel Adesanya?
Al-Shatti: The answer isIsrael Adesanya, and it’s not really close. Aside from the obvious factors of age and experience giving du Plessis the longer runway to climb back to the belt (the champ is five years younger and far less battle-weary), Adesanya is teetering on a razor’s edge of that inevitable thing we just tend to do in pro sports: Retroactive legacy readjustment. Right now, “The Last Stylebender” is pretty widely hailed as the second-greatest middleweight of all-time. There was some GOAT talk starting to dribble out of the dumber side of MMA at one point during his peak reign, but that was always reactionary drivel and I’m glad we as a community have adjusted accordingly since The Stricklanding.
Adesanya can likely cement his title forever as the second-best to ever do it at 185 pounds if he waltzes out to Perth and beats a man he clearly disdains to become a three-time champ. But if he loses for a third time over his past four fights and drops to 7-4 in undisputed UFC title bouts? Suddenly the door swings open for that résumé to start getting ripped apart with a fine-tooth comb. Just picture it in your mind. Say Adesanya gets rinsed by du Plessis — you already know what the response will be. Izzy was never actually that good. He reigned over a weak middleweight division. His only good wins were Whittaker and Pereira, but he should’ve lost the rematch against the former and it took him four tries to do the latter.
Which, you know, fair. Obviously some of that is revisionism at its finest, but a hit list filled with Marvin Vettoris and Paulo Costas hasn’t exactly aged as gracefully as we expected in 2021. If there’s a world where we end up looking back at this middleweight era and its top standouts are Whittaker, Strickland, Adesanya, and du Plessis in some order, and Adesanya has lost badly to two of the other three, his place in the pantheon may look quite a bit different than it once did, especially with his straight-up refusal to fight Pereira again.
“DDP” doesn’t share those same kind of weighty stakes, at least not yet.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesIsrael Adesanya
Martin: As much as Dricus du Plessis has riding on this one as the incumbent champion, there’s no doubt Israel Adesanya has more on the line as the challenger.
It’s been almost a year since we last saw Adesenya and that night he lost in lopsided fashion to Sean Strickland — a fighter he seemed destined to beat as the loud-mouthed middleweight was basically serving as a stand-in for du Plessis when he couldn’t make a quick turnaround to fight in July and then again in September. Instead, Strickland beat the brakes off Adesanya and took the title from him. Since that time, Adesanya has largely stayed in the shadows and he’s continued to lurk on the outside looking in, basically being a recluse from media or public appearances, which seems to signal he’s only interested in fixing what went wrong in his last fight and making sure he’s ready to take the title back now that du Plessis is champion.
Winning fixes everything in this sport but losing is so catastrophic that a second straight defeat could spell utter doom for Adesanya. At 35, another loss could make it much tougher to tell if Adesanya is still in the middle of his prime or beginning that slow — or potentially fast — expulsion from the island of relevancy. His performance at UFC 305 could determine if Adesanya puts himself back in the conversation as one of the all-time greats, perhaps riding shotgun to middleweight GOAT Anderson Silva, or if his best days are truly behind him. There’s even a real world scenario where a bad loss could end with Adesanya saying, “Peace out, see ya, don’t want to be ya.”
And that’s not even factoring in the intense rivalry that Adesanya shares with du Plessis after their borderline “should we even be talking about this” trash talk about who was a real African turned uncomfortable long before this fight ever got made. It all adds up to Adesanya desperately needing a win because he can ill afford another loss, especially if du Plessis is the guy who gives it to him.
Meshew: Both of my colleagues are horribly mistaken: Dricus du Plessis has the most to lose on Saturday. By a WIDE margin.
First off, in a very literal sense, DDP is the one with something to lose right now. He has a shiny belt he gets to carry around. Adesanya does not. So if DDP loses, he will directly and tangibly lose a belt. How will he hold up his pants?!?!
But more to the point, du Plessis is also the one risking his legacy on Saturday, for all the exact reasons Shaheen and Damon noted.
Adesanya is the second greatest middleweight of all time. It is almost incontrovertible unless you’re arguing with a real Munson. That means that, ultimately, he doesn’t have much to lose. Sure, a loss means he can’t chase down Anderson Silva for GOAT status, but he never was doing that anyway. And the man has solidified himself enough that a loss doesn’t take the silver medal away from him either. Sure, some bozos will try and re-write history but there’s always a turd in the punch bowl. They don’t make the rules and they don’t matter.
On top of that, Adesanya is 35 years old and not a young 35. Man has been kickboxing for a lifetime. He’s got city miles on him. 113 official fights and counting, and the number is probably well north of that, adding in all the gym wars, street scuffles, and whatever the hell else he’s gotten up to in his life. The human body can only take so much and Adesanya’s pushed his further than most. And everyone knows it. If he loses to DDP, there’s a built-in escape hatch. “Well, Izzy got old. Father Time comes for us all. But man, think about when he was in his prime.” That’s how the conversations go.
Conversely, du Plessis is a new, young champion in the prime of his career. The man has been talking a springbok-sized mountain of crap for a long time about Adesanya and now the bill has come due. If he goes out there and gets washed, the stain will live with him forever. He’ll be dunked on relentlessly for the rest of his career. Because lord knows Adesanya isn’t one to let things go. We’ll get Jon Jones-levels of petty Tweets for the remainder of his career.
Plus, DDP’s title win was controversial. If he doesn’t defend the title, it’ll be erased, far more than Adesanya’s legacy will. Yes, he’ll forever be a champion, but so was Dave Menne and we don’t talk about him at all.
Maybe du Plessis could get back to the belt after a loss, but he’ll never get back what he will lose on Saturday night. Other than the thing to hold up his pants.
2. How far away from a title shot are Kai Kara-France and Steve Erceg?
Photo by Alexandre Loureiro/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesSteve Erceg
Martin: What in the world happened to the depth in the UFC flyweight division?
For a while it seemed like the 125-pound division was flourishing, especially with a series of thrilling matches between Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo. Now one of those guys is on indefinite hiatus and the other is closing in on a title shot in the bantamweight division. That leaves champion Alexandre Pantoja without a lot of options right now.
Despite Pantoja standing around without a true No. 1 contender, it’s crazy to consider that Kara-France or Erceg should even sniff a title shot without three or four wins in a row. First off, Erceg just lost to Pantoja — yes, it was a compelling, close-fought battle but the result still went to the champion and let’s be honest, “Astro Boy” got the opportunity by default anyways when the UFC desperately needed a fight to headline a card in Brazil after exhausting the reserves to build UFC 300 into an unforgettable event.
Meanwhile, Kara-France lost his last two fights — albeit one of those in disputed fashion — but he also hasn’t been seen since that night in June 2023. Even if he tears through Erceg impressively, there’s no world where he should get a title shot without at least a couple more wins.
Where does that leave Pantoja exactly? Maybe the UFC should look towards the land of the RIZIN sun.
Meshew: Another way to ask this question is: what the (Mike) Heck does this fight even mean? And the answer is diddly squat.
Don’t get me wrong, the co-main event on Saturday is gas. Premium, 93 octane gasoline. But it doesn’t mean much. As Damon noted, “KKF” is on a two-fight losing streak. Sure, a win puts him back in the mix but even in a weight class desperate for new challengers, at best this puts him one away.
And my boy Vincenzo, AKA “Vinny Cigs,” just lost to the current champion. If Brandon Royval beats Tatsuro Taira, he’d have that same problem but a better resume. E-Cig is still up a creek there (and if Taira wins, he’s getting the title shot). Plus, at some point Amir Albazi will probably fight again, and at this rate, might just get a title shot via process of elimination.
No, both men are still a few away from scrapping for the belt, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything on the line. As Damon noted, Kai Asakura is making his way to the octagon and I strongly suspect his debut will come against the winner of this fight right here. Either a battle of the Kais or “Astro Boy” gets a chance to establish himself as Steve “Kai Killer” Erceg. Then we’ll just need the UFC to trade for Kai Kamaka III to complete the quest, before Erceg bumps up to middleweight and challenges Caio Borralho, to see the true extent of his powers.
Al-Shatti: As much as it pains me, Vinny Cigs still has some work to do regardless of what happens at UFC 305. He just challenged for the belt in May and even that was more of a rare “Well, we really don’t have any other options, do we?” type of scenario. As well as he acquitted himself in that Pantoja fight, Erceg isn’t the guy who’s going to be given a second shortcut in line anytime soon. But Kara-France? Oh baby. For him, it’s riiiiiight there for the taking. The unlikely nobody-won outcome of UFC 304’s marquee flyweight fight left this division adrift without a clear — or even murky — No. 1 contender. A Kara-France coming off a UFC 305 win would pretty much be the only elite name left at 125 pounds with, A) Any tangible sense of momentum, and B) No disqualifyinghistory with the champ. (Kara-France lost to Pantoja on TUF 24, but that was an exhibition fight more than eight years ago.)
Even his loss to the only other viable option right now (Amir Albazi) can be easily hand-waved away with one glance at MMA Decisions and Albazi’s inactivity since. Tatsuro Taira remains one win away and I still expect UFC to give Asakura a welcome-to-the-show fight before throwing him straight into the title mix. So make no mistake about it, whether he deserves it or not, Kai Kara-France is vying for gold next if he wins at UFC 305.
3. What fight from the undercard are you most interested in?
Martin: UFC 305 is incredibly top heavy but one prelim that got my attention ahead of this weekend is Jack Jenkins returning from injury to face Herbert Burns. Now you might be asking how is this a compelling fight when one guy is coming off a horrific elbow dislocation and the other has a history with his gas tank matching a heavyweight journeyman fighting at Denver altitude?
That’s exactly why this is a fun fight!
With Jenkins’ past reputation built around his uncanny ability to literally break his opponents’ legs with kicks and Burns knowing that his UFC career is dangling by a thread after three straight losses where only an impressive win might keep his roster spot, that sets up the potential for some real fireworks.
Of course, Burns could also try to play it safe, but it’s tough to imagine he’s going to lean on his less-than-reliable conditioning enough to try and grind out Jenkins for three rounds. Instead, Burns may just throw caution to the wind and go for broke while Jenkins attempts to chop him down like a lumberjack going after an Australian eucalyptus tree. That could result in a surprisingly wild finish.
Al-Shatti: Oh man. This really isn’t the most inspiring lineup, eh? Since one obvious pick is already taken, I suppose I’ll go off the board and sneak in Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes from the deep prelims. Firstly, did y’all know Nolan is a 6-foot-3 lightweight?! He is! That’s wildly absurd but I love it dearly. But also, I respect the instincts of my friend Jed (sometimes against my better judgement), and when he boldly labeled the former Rugby player as his No. 1 prospect among the 47 signees of the most recent Contender Series season, I had to take notice.
And I’m glad I did.
Nolan may have slipped on the proverbial banana peel in his UFC debut, but his sophomore effort against Victor Martinez was a vicious reminder of the potential of the man Mr. Meshew so aptly described as “a lightweight with shades of Jalin Turner crossed with Dan Hooker.” Nolan is huge, he’s mean, he’s athletic, and he’s been given the perfect dance partner with a get-or-get-got all-star like the 37-year-old Reyes. Make no mistake, this one is a showcase for Nolan’s unique brand of ultra-violence, and I am very much here for it.
Meshew: Because Shaheen is a butt, he took the guy I was OBVIOUSLY going to take and I’m now in a bind here because most of these fights are uninspiring.
So, given the tragic skullduggery that has ensued, I will just cheat and choose the most obvious choice that’s ever shot a boot: Tai Tuivasa vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
“But Jed, that’s on the main card!” Tough noogies. I’m editing this piece and thus no one can stop me. And for as much as I am somewhat interested in Casey O’Neill — talented fighter on the verge of collapsing behind a bad losing streak — we need to talk about another fighter who fits that criteria: Tai Tuivasa.
Two years ago, Tuivasa was shockingly close to knocking out Ciryl Gane and fighting for an honest-to-Shiva UFC title. It was a time when logic and rationality had been locked in the trunk and vibes had taken the wheel and slammed the pedal down. Had he done it, I somehow feel the world would be a better place right this moment. But instead, Gane survived and won and since then, the vibes have been atrocious.
Four losses in a row, two in the first round, and one by Odin-damned ezekiel choke. There are toddlers alive today that have never even seen a shoey. You call this a society? We oughta leave this world behind.
And Saturday, we have the chance to. Rozenstruik is a kickboxer, so there’s almost no chance he tackles and submits Tuivasa, meaning he’s “down to get down” as “Bam Bam” likes to say. And while Rozenstruik isn’t toothless in there, he’s also not Sergei Pavlovich. There’s a real chance Tai can resurrect the old Bam Bam and get this party started again.
Make MMA Shoey Again, 2024.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesTai Tuivasa
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Photo by Alexandre Loureiro/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
File under: Mmanews.com | Leave a comment »