Jon Jones Can Appeal His Only UFC Loss after Groundbreaking Rule Change

On paper, Jones has only lost one time in his professional career, and that was a disqualification to Matt Hamill back in 2009. In top position, Jones delivered illegal 12 to 6 elbows (downward pointing elbow strikes) to the head of Hamill which saw him DQ’ed by the referee and handed his first (and so far only) MMA loss across 29 fights.

However, 15 years later, there’s apparently a chance that Jones can see his 27-1 (1 NC) record rectified.

On Tuesday, the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports Mixed Martial Arts Committee (ABC) made two massive changes to the Unified MMA rules, with the first being the removal of the previous ’12 to 6 elbow’ rule, which prohibited the downward strike.

According to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, Jon Jones could potentially appeal his disqualification loss to Matt Hamill for a No Contest result following this rule change all these years later.

“Worth noting, Jon Jones can appeal his 2009 loss to Matt Hamill to get it overturned into a no contest (not a win) but it *might* be too late since that was almost 15 years ago,” Helwani wrote on ‘X’, sharing the ABC’s latest amendments.

“Yeah long shot but some commissioners have told me they’d advise him to at least try,” Helwani said of Jones’ chances of getting his loss overturned.

“Undefeated then, undefeated now,” Jones wrote of the rule change on Instagram. “@danawhite we gotta get that loss out of the history books.”

The second rule change is in regards to the definition of a grounded opponent. As it has stood for years, the rule’s former language states: “To be grounded, the palm of one hand (a flat palm) must be down, and/or any other body part must be touching the fighting area floor. A single knee, arm, (not fingers) makes the fighter grounded without having to have any other body part in touch with the fighting area floor. At this time, kicks or knees to the head will not be allowed.”

As for the new, approved language, it reads: “A fighter shall be considered grounded and may not be legally kneed or kicked to the head when any part of their body other than their hands or feet is in contact with the canvas (ground).”

Ariel Helwani also reports that Nov. 1, 2024 is when these changes will implemented to get other commissions up to speed with these two amendments.

• UFC News: Sean O’Malley Lights up “Mentally Weak” Conor McGregor – “You Fell off Bud”

• Boxing News: Jake Paul Called Out by Ex-UFC Champ to “Fight Someone Your Own Size”

• MMA News: Fighter Crushes Opponent with Thunderous Right Hand at Fury FC 94 

Stick with MMA Knockout for more daily coverage of the UFC, MMA, WWE, and AEW.

Follow MMA Knockout on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.