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Jon Jones fell short of historic UFC record after unexpected retirement

Originally posted on MMA on SI | By Mathew Riddle | Last updated Jul 30, 2025 1:06 PM ET

Jon Jones was a stone's throw away from achieving a coveted heavyweight record before his unexpected retirement from the UFC.

'Bones' held the big man title for more than two years, achieving two-division champion status by defeating Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. He defended his title once against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, and lived out the rest of his disputed title reign with interim titleholder Tom Aspinall snapping at his heels.

Regardless of his intent to return on the UFC White House card, Jones has forfeited the belt, and with it, one UFC record fans were worried he'd achieve without defending his belt a second time.

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Jon Jones failed to beat Cain Velasquez's UFC heavyweight title reign record

With his quiet retirement, announced by Dana White at the post-event press conference at UFC Baku in June, Jones capped off his heavyweight title reign at 840 days. With this, he became the second-longest reigning heavyweight champion in the promotion's history (single-stretch).

The longest-reigning heavyweight champion remains Cain Velasquez, who held the belt for 896 days. As for stretches containing multiple reigns, Stipe Miocic holds the record with 1,372 days.

Jones would have become the longest-reigning champion by mid-August this year, all while having one title defense to his name.

Velasquez wasn't much better for activity, with two defenses, but it was injuries that kept him out of action, rather than Jones' mixture of fight politics and outside-the-cage antics.

This article first appeared on MMA on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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