All the talk and controversy came to a head Saturday night at UFC 232.
Jon Jones and controversy go hand-in-hand, dating back to his close victory over Alexander Gustafsson five years ago. At The Forum on Saturday, the two finally met back in the cage, competing for a championship that neither man held leading into the evening.
Lead elbow lands from @JonnyBones in round 1! #UFC232 pic.twitter.com/iEnromj4vv
— UFC (@ufc) December 30, 2018
An atypical drug test finding for Jones has led to a public relations nightmare for the UFC, who had to move the entire event from Las Vegas to Los Angeles due to Jones not being licensed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Jones gets the takedown in round 3, and starts landing those short elbows! #UFC232 pic.twitter.com/P0wQpABwYr
— UFC (@ufc) December 30, 2018
Once in the cage, the two giants of the division fought at range, before Jones focused on the legs of Gustafsson. This opened up the takedown, and allowed Jones to drag Gustafsson to the ground and finish him with violent strikes.
You can see an excerpt of our FightfulMMA.com live coverage below:
Round Three: The round begins with Jones cracking Gustafsson with a left hook, Gustafsson responds by landing a left of his own. Jones scores a takedown on Gustafsson and he gets the open guard, Jones transitions to the half guard against Gustafsson. Jones transitions to side control and then back control against Gustafsson, Jones attacks Gustafsson with a plethora of ground and pound until the referee jumps in.
Official Result: #1 Jon Jones def. #2 Alexander Gustafsson by KO via strikes (2:02, R3) to win the UFC Light Heavyweight Title
Jones has been embroiled in a feud with now-former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion for years, which has included two fights that saw Jones walk out of the cage with wins, but fail drug tests in relation to both of them. His 2017 win was overturned after testing positive for turinabol and the title was returned to Cormier. This week, Cormier relinquished the championship out of protest to the situation and Jones' constant issues out of the cage.
"The goal is to finish this fight, and that's what I'll do. I'll finish this fight."@JonnyBones at the press conference on Thursday -- #UFC232 pic.twitter.com/oADLr4HxOq
— UFC (@ufc) December 30, 2018
After the fight, Jones called Cormier out for yet another battle.
Fightful.com and FightfulMMA.com have full live coverage of UFC 232 at this link, and a live post-show podcast at this link. We'll also have Sean Ross Sapp's watch/don't watch picks and notes in the morning. As a programming note, the FightfulMMA.com Podcast will take place on Thursday of next week, as Showdown Joe is traveling home from Japan's Rizin event.
