{"id":598683,"date":"2026-04-10T21:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598683\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:26:08","slug":"jon-jones-confirms-hes-done-competing-my-gloves-are-hung-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598683\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Jones confirms he\u2019s done competing: \u2018My gloves are hung up\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jon Jones\u2019 fighting days might finally be over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The former two-division UFC champion and all-time great light heavyweight has competed sporadically since 2019, logging just three fights since then and briefly retiring in 2025. Jones, 38, went back on his retirement talk for the chance to be part of the UFC White House event, but CEO Dana White was quick to shoot down Jones\u2019 participation, citing his past unreliability.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jones had hoped to be in a heavyweight title bout against Alex Pereira on the June 14 card and publicly requested for the UFC to release him after White claimed there were never any substantial negotiations between the fighter and the promotion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Now, Jones appears to have stepped back from competition for good.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cMy gloves are hung up. I\u2019m chilling these days,\u201d Jones told Red Corner MMA in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3YTXwVmgo6k\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube vlog<\/a>. \u201cYou\u2019ve got business Jon Jones, no more fighter Jon Jones. The businessman, you know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jones was in this past weekend as a special guest for an IBA Bare Knuckle event headlined by fellow UFC veteran Yoel Romero vs. Vagab Vagabov. When Romero suggested Jones book a bare-knuckle fight if he\u2019s no longer interested in MMA, Jones shot that idea down as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI don\u2019t think I can do it,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to get punched. I don\u2019t want to get punched.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cMore brutal is the knee in the face and the elbow in the face,\u201d Romero said. \u201cA hundred percent. This, no. This [points to his elbow] is danger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI can\u2019t do it, still,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jones has not fought since defending the UFC heavyweight title with a win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November 2024. It was just his second fight at heavyweight, following a lengthy run over the light heavyweight division that included two championship reigns and 11 successful title defenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jon Jones\u2019 fighting days might finally be over. The former two-division UFC champion and all-time great light heavyweight&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":["post-598683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}