‘Cut me open’ – Jon Jones reveals best opponent he faced – and it’s not Daniel Cormier

Jon Jones fought a who’s who of great fighters during his illustrious career – but one proved to be tougher than the rest.

The American sensation spent a record 1,743 days as the UFC‘s No.1 pound-for-pound fighter and won world titles at both light heavyweight and heavyweight.

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Along the way, he defeated several future and current Hall of Famers, including Daniel Cormier, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.

The sole blemish on Jones’ otherwise exemplary 28-1 record came via a controversial disqualification loss to Matt Hamill in 2009.

Four years on from that heavily disputed fight, Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson almost became the second man to beat Jones when he pushed him all the way to the final bell at UFC 165.

Following a fast start from Gustafsson, Jones started to get into his groove as both men went to war for five blood-soaked rounds.

During the chaos, ‘The Mauler’ became the first man to take down Jones when he landed a single leg in the opening stanza.

In the end, Jones got his hand raised via unanimous decision, although two of the scorecards separated the pair by a single round.

More than a decade on from their barnburning bout, Jones paid the ultimate compliment to his former foe by hailing him as his best ever opponent.

“My best opponent would have to have been Alexander Gustafsson. He was my best opponent,” he said when the question was posed to him during a fan Q&A in Thailand last month.

“He was my best opponent. He really pushed me.

“He was the only guy to take me down in the UFC, and man, he cut me open and made me dig really hard.”

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In 2018, Jones and Gustafsson rematched for the vacant light heavyweight crown at UFC 232.

It proved to be a completely different fight the second time around, with Jones dominating the Swede en route to a third-round knockout win.

With that, Gustafsson had failed at winning the 205lbs belt for a third time, and he would never get the opportunity to fight for it again.

In the years that followed, he suffered defeats at the hands of Anthony Smith and Fabricio Werdum before Nkyita Krylov made it four losses on bounce by flattening Gustafsson in the first round.

The devastating defeat marked his final fight with the UFC.

And while he signed with the GFL in 2024, the now-defunct promotion never got off the ground.

At 38-years-old, it is unlikely he will ever compete at an elite level in MMA again.

However, he will always be remembered as the man who nearly beat Jones.