BALTIMORE - Diversity was the name of the game for Jon Jones, and he played it masterfully.
With perhaps the widest-ranging offensive attack of his title reign, Jones threw a little bit of everything in Glover Teixeira 's direction for five rounds, and consistently stayed just out of range of the challenger's biggest punches en route to a dominant unanimous decision win.
Jones took a trio of 50-45 scores for the sweep and defended his light heavyweight title for the seventh straight time.
The 205-pound title fight headlined today's UFC 172 event at Maryland's Baltimore Arena. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Jones' offense consisted of spinning kicks, axe kicks, wheel kicks, oblique kicks, straight elbows, spinning elbows, jumping knees, takedowns, jabs - you name it, Jones threw it. He ate a few strikes from Teixeira in the process, but never seemed to be in any danger. It was almost as if Jones was using the fight as a hard sparring session in the dominant win.
'A lot of it was improv. The game was to stick to takedowns and try to pick him apart from a distance,' Jones said. 'I realized mid-fight that he was winding up on his punches, and you can't wind up when someone's right on top of you. So I switched the game plan up to go extremely short range, and it worked out great. I was a lot better hand fighter than he was. Glover Teixeira is someone that I respect dearly, and I thank him for the challenge.'
Jones kicked hard right out of the gate, but Teixeira fired back with a couple punches in the first 15 seconds. Jones tried to get inside, and he landed a knee to the body as Teixeira just missed an uppercut. The champ couldn't get a takedown moments later. But Teixeira kept coming forward and landed a pair of right hands over the top.
Midway through the round, Jones just missed a hooked kick to the head as Teixeira continued to throw bombs. Jones slammed Teixeira to the canvas after catching a kick, but the fight didn't stay on the ground longer than a couple seconds. The most significant strike of the round came with a spinning back kick to the body from Jones, and that forced Teixeira to try to run him down with wild punches.
Jones landed a straight left in the second with seeming ease compared to the big punches Teixeira was trying to land. He threw an axe kick, then a pair of oblique kicks that had Teixeira backing up. But a second poke to the eye from Jones had referee Dan Miragliotta warning Jones for striking with his open hands - and got Teixeira a chance to escape from the fence. He responded with some solid offense before eating a kick to the head and another elbow.
Jones continued to pour it on with wide-ranging strikes in the third. He popped Teixeira in the mouth hard enough that he jarred his mouthpiece out, then calmly waited for the challenger to put it back in to continue. Jones started to go to work in tight against Teixeira with elbows, eventually slicing the Brazilian open. In the final 30 seconds of the third, Jones tied Teixeira up and landed big punches and elbows along the fence - right in Teixeira's wheelhouse, and Jones won the battle.
In the fifth round, Jones had his hardest pursuit of a takedown right away. Teixeira was able to get back to his feet just in time to eat a spinning elbow to the face. Ninety seconds in, as the two traded a flurry, Teixeira again lost his mouthpiece and was warned for losing it. But save for the final 30 seconds or so when Jones mostly stayed out of danger, he continued to stand right where Teixeira thought he'd have his best chance - and beat him at what he was best at.
'He kicked me in the right shoulder, and I have to check it out. And I might have a broken rib,' Teixeira said. 'This guy, he's tough. He took my best shots. He took my left hook three or four times and he kept coming back. He's a great champion. I did my strategy - try to push him and hit him with hooks. But he kept the lights on and he beat me at my best.'
Jones (20-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) won for the 11th straight time and eight straight time in a championship fight. He also set a UFC record with his 14th win at light heavyweight. Teixeira (22-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC) lost for the first time in more than nine years and had his 20-fight winning streak finally snapped.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 172 results include:
Jon Jones def. Glover Teixeira via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) Anthony Johnson def. Phil Davis via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) Luke Rockhold def. Tim Boetsch via submission (kimura) - Round 1, 2:08 Jim Miller def. Yancy Medeiros via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 3:18 Max Holloway def. Andre Fili via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 3, 3:39 Joseph Benavidez def. Timothy Elliott via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 4:08 Takanori Gomi def. Isaac Vallie-Flagg via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Bethe Correia def. Jessamyn Duke via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) Danny Castillo def. Charlie Brenneman via knockout (punch) - Round 2, 0:21 Chris Beal def. Patrick Williams via knockout (flying knee) - Round 2, 1:51
For more on UFC 172, stay stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site. (Steven Marrocco and John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Baltimore.)
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