Bones Jones KOs Belfort, keeps light heavy crown

MANILA, Philippines - Jon “Bones” Jones defeated Vitor Belfort via a fourth round Americana submission in the Ultimate Fighting Championship 151 to retain the light heavyweight crown in Toronto, Canada yesterday.

Widely criticized by both mixed martial arts fans and UFC president Dana White for his decision to refuse a UFC 151 fight early this month, the 25-year-old Jones was far from being distracted as he demolished Belfort to annex the victory.

“It feels great,” said Jones.

Meanwhile, Demetrious Johnson became the UFC’s first flyweight champion after edging Joseph Benavidez via a split decision.

In a non-title middleweight fight, Michael “The Count” Bisping won over Brian Stann via a unanimous decision to get back on track for a title crack following a loss to Chael Sonnen.

The middleweight division is also where Fil-Am Mark “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Muñoz is fighting.

Jones actually nearly got caught by an arm bar by Belfort, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black-belter, early in the first round. Though he might have hyper-extended his arm, the former hung tough and refused to tap.

Jones then systematically beat up Belfort both from standing up and on the ground until the fighter, known as “Phenom”, failed to survive the Americana submission, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu term for lateral keylock, with 54 seconds of the fourth round.

Jones, however, showed up with his right arm in a sling during the post-match press conference.

It was Jones’ 17th win against a single loss while Belfort fell to his ninth loss against 19 victories.

Jones was scheduled to fight Dan Henderson, who called off the fight due to injury. UFC 151 was cancelled when Jones refused to fight a substitute before Belfort came in. It was his fourth successful defense, one shy of the divisional record owned by Tito Ortiz.