10 MMA Fights That Created Instant Legends

1. Jon Jones Vs. Mauricio Rua - UFC 128

Love him or hate him – and plenty do hate him – there’s no disputing Jon Jones’ spot as an MMA legend and one of the greatest to ever step foot in the cage. In fact, to many, Jonny Bones is viewed as the all-time best pound-for-pound fighter that the sport has ever seen.

To this day, Jones only has one (extremely controversial) DQ loss on his record, and his career stats stand at 25-1 for the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

Throughout his career, Bones has bested a who’s who of light heavyweight fighters – including Lyoto Machida, Alexander Gustafsson, Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, and, of course, Daniel Cormier.

The fight that launched Jon Jones to superstardom, however, is his impressive win over Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua at 2011’s UFC 128. With 12 career wins under his belt at that point, the 23-year-old Jones got the TKO win over one of the best in the game to become the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

Jones would go on to defend the gold an impressive eight times before being stripped of his title after being arrested for a hit-and-run incident. And that was just the start of the many issues that have plagued Jon Jones in recent years.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.