TRAINING: Practice with Coach Jackson and / or Winkeljohn, 2-3 times a day... a morning and night session plus one private a day, as well as strength and conditioning every night and swimming every Tuesday and Thursday with Sandia High School’s swim team.

When and why did you start training for fighting? I started training MMA in 2007. I had an unexpected child in college and I needed to make some money.

What ranks and titles have you held? UFC light heavyweight champion, JUCO National Wrestling Champion, USKBA 205lb MMA Champion

Do you have any heroes? Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Muhammad Ali

What does it mean for you to fight in the UFC? It is a great opportunity for me at such a young age and being new to the sport of MMA.  I am extremely excited to be a part of the UFC.

Did you go to college and if so what degree did you earn? I attended Iowa Central and earned an associates degree.

Specific accomplishments in amateur competition? JUCO National Wrestling Champion, Greco Roman All-American, NYS Champion

Specific accomplishments in pro competition? USKBA 205lb Champion

Favorite grappling technique: Whatever taps the guy out.

Favorite Striking technique: What ever KO's him.

•    From Rochester, NY  (trains in Albuquerque, NM, with Greg Jackson)

•    UFC light heavyweight champion (youngest UFC champ in history at 23 years, 242 days old when he won the title at UFC 128)

•    Champ moonlights as a crime fighter: Hours before the biggest fight of his life – against then-UFC champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua – Jones journeyed to a New Jersey park to meditate. He and two of his trainers, Greg Jackson and Mike Winklejohn, heard a woman scream and ran to her head. Against the wishes of his coaches, Jones ran down and double-leg tackled a mugger, then put the thief in a figure-four leg lock until police arrived. Jones even gave the bad guy a little advice: “It’s not right taking other people’s money from them. They work hard for it.”

•    Brother, Arthur, plays defensive line for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL; another brother,  Chandler, is a defensive lineman at Syracuse University in New York (Note: Arthur Jones also played college football at Syracuse)

•    Lists his heroes as: Muhammad Ali, Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko

•    Genesis: Began training MMA in 2007 because “I had an unexpected child and I needed to make some money.”

•    College: Earned associate’s degree from Iowa Central Community College (coincidentally, the same Jr. College that Cain Velasquez attended)

•    Championship wrestling pedigree: Junior College national champ in 2006 (197 pounds), New York State champ in high school

•    6 feet 4 inches tall, with an 84.5-inch reach – longest in UFC history at any weight class

•    Tragedy: Sister passed away from brain cancer at age 18

•    “The Future is Now” – describes how many UFC fans and pundits feel about Jon Jones and his one-in-a-million potential

•    13-1 record; lone loss was via disqualification to Matt Hamill in 2009. Jones dominated the entire fight and punished Hamill and many fans feel that the referee should have perhaps penalized Jones a point for illegal elbows rather than disqualifying him.