Today Is The 7th Anniversary Of One Of The Scariest Submissions In UFC History

Jon Jones had an incredibly active 2011. In February, he submitted Ryan Bader to earn himself a title shot. In March – just six weeks later – Jones finished UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Shogun Rua to become the youngest champion in the company’s history. In September, he’d successfully defend his title for the first time against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson…and then in December, to cap off the year, Jones successfully defended the gold one more time against Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida.

The fight with Machida is the one folk seem to remember the most, though, because of its absolutely brutal finish.

Jon Jones caught Machida – one of the most beloved legends our sport has ever seen – with a standing guillotine in the second round, choked him unconscious, and let his body crash down to the canvas face-first as he released the hold and walked away showing zero emotion about the practical murder he had just committed.

There was no mistaking it now; Jones was an all-time great, and one of the most terrifying of those all-time greats as well.

Today being the seventh anniversary of this legendary finish (holy fuck I can’t believe it’s been 7 years), and us being two weeks out from the return of Jon Jones to the octagon at UFC 232, I thought now was as appropriate a time as ever to blog what I wasn’t around to back in 2011, so I hope you enjoyed! Here’s some more highlights from Jones’ career:

I know I hate on the guy constantly, but god damn I enjoy watching “Bones” fight.