"It's very illegal but I do it" - When Jon Jones hilariously admitted to poking his opponents in the eye

For years, Jon Jones has been accused of utilizing eye pokes in his MMA bouts to gain an unfair advantage over his opponents.

Today, we revisit a few excerpts from the statements Jon Jones provided in the 2016 MMA documentary ‘The Hurt Business’. One scene showed an interviewer noting that Jon Jones’ opponent Daniel Cormier had claimed that Jones would intentionally use eye pokes during their fight.

Jones responded to this by stating:

“So, Daniel Cormier is saying before the fight that I’ll end up poking him in the eyes at some point. And the reason why he says that is because I do poke people in the eyes. And it’s very illegal, but I do it.

“I react to people trying to punch me in the face, by usually sticking my hand out and pushing their face away – Kind of like you see on TV when the big brother’s holding his little brother, and the little brother can’t hit him, right? ‘Cause his arms isn’t, like, long enough or whatnot. And I do that in real fights. So, like, if someone’s coming at me, I’ll just put my hands on their forehead.

“And a lot of times, they end up missing the punch that was intended for my face. And sometimes, it lands in people’s eyes. And people hate that. They’re like, ‘Jonny, you’re a great, talented fighter. You don’t need to use an illegal tactic to be successful’. I try to tell people it’s not intentional. But now, I’m kind of known for it. And it’s working.” (*Video courtesy: Luminous YouTube channel via The Hurt Business documentary; H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)

Jon Jones aims to capture the UFC heavyweight title

Interim UFC heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane (left) is expected to face UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou (right) to unify the heavyweight titles

Jon Jones ruled over the UFC light heavyweight division for about a decade. 'Bones' vacated his title in August 2020 and announced that he’d be moving up to heavyweight.

He was expected to fight for the UFC heavyweight title in his heavyweight debut. Nevertheless, a pay dispute between Jones and the UFC has delayed his return.

Furthermore, amidst the pay dispute this year, Jon Jones suggested that he’s not rushing the bulking-up process. Jones emphasized that he’ll make his heavyweight debut in 2022 when his body is fully accustomed to the new weight class.