Former UFC featherweight Jeremy Stephens made his return to the promotion, this time at lightweight, and took on a young and also returning Mason Jones at UFC Des Moines on Saturday night.
Stephens (29-21) owns a highlight reel of wars whether he was winning or losing. One of MMA’s fan favorite brawlers Stephens made his way back to the UFC after a run in boxing and in BKFC among other promotions. Last time he stepped into a UFC octagon he lost via submission against Mateusz Gamrot.
Jones (15-2) also made his return to the UFC in Des Moines. Jones left the UFC following a loss to L’udovit Klein and then rattled off 4-straight victories with Cage Warriors. The 30-year-old looked to add the Stephens name to his resume on Saturday night.
Round 1 ref said go and Jones sent a head kick right away. Stephens played it way safer than fans are used to blocking kicks and sending his own. Jones worked the jab pretty well early on and avoided most of the early heavy attacks from Stephens.
Jones put the pressure on Stephens landing combinations and leg kicks to end them. Stephens finally popped off some hands, but it did nothing to stop Jones from coming forward. Stephens landed a heavy right hand around the 2:30 mark, but Jones made him pay for it with a combo.
Jones in the first round moved like a finely tuned race car. He took Stephens down twice in the round and finished it on the back looking for the RNC before running out of time.
Round 2 Stephens came out on fire landing big shots and forcing Jones to fight. The younger fighter decided he’d play ‘Lil Heathen’s’ game a bit with the striking. Jones was able to land a menu of techniques on Stephens including flying knees and spinning back elbows, but the veteran fighter would not go away.
Jones scored a takedown with 35 seconds left in the round to slow Stephens down. Crowd didn’t like it, but MMA is MMA.
Round 3 Jones decided to stop playing with Stephens and went all out on takedowns and ground attacks. Stephens didn’t make it hard to get him to the ground so Jones took what he gave him.
Jones took top position looking for a kimura, but Stephens bought time to recover and got to his feet. Jones got him right back to the ground moments later, and with less than 90 seconds left in the fight Stephens was running out of time.
Fight ended with Jones in mount looking for ground and pound.
Official Result: Mason Jones def. Jeremy Stephens via Unanimous Decision (30-27×3)
