UFC president Dana White is having a tough time trying to get Jon Jones’ only career loss overturned.
Jones (26-1, 1NC) first and only loss came to Matt Hamill over a decade ago at The Ultimate Fighter season 10 finale. Dominating the fight until it was stopped, Jones was disqualified after landing several illegal downward elbows leaving Hamill unable to continue.
Talking recently to ESPN, White blamed the “weak” state of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) at the time for Jones’ disqualification.
“The guy’s never lost a fight ever. That one loss on his record, we’re trying to get that overturned,” White said (Transcription via BJ Penn). “It was at a time and a place in the Nevada State Athletic Commission when it was at its worst. It was the weakest commission ever in the history of Nevada, and the referee that reffed that fight shouldn’t have even been in there, and he disqualified Jon, which shouldn’t have happened either. So, hopefully, we can get that done.”
After spending his whole career at light heavyweight, Jones is set to move up to heavyweight and fight for the title against the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou 2. Despite White’s best efforts, the “weak” NSAC has refused to overturn the result against Hammill and it remains as the only loss in Jones’ accomplished career.
“I’ve battled hard to try and get that one taken off the back of his record which is almost impossible to do. Which is insane, it is crazy that that thing doesn’t go away,” White said to ESPN. “At the time, the Nevada State Athletic Commission was at it’s weakest, the guy who was running it was weak, the people who were involved were weak. Everybody was weak at the time. You should be able to look back and say okay let’s make this right. So far no good, I have really worked hard to try and get that 1 taken off his record. But, it is not looking good.”
