Parker Porter details 2008 fight with Jon Jones: ‘It was a quick fight’
When Parker Porter makes his UFC debut this Saturday night at UFC 252 he will do so with some solid experience.
The 35-year-old is set to battle Christopher Daukaus but early on his career, the Connecticut native fought Jon Jones in his third pro fight and took on Gabriel Gonzaga in his ninth pro fight.
When Porter fought Jones it was his first time cutting down to light heavyweight and he missed weight. It also didn’t help that back then, no one knew who Jon Jones was. So, for Porter, he says him cutting to 205-pound was a bad mistake. He also couldn’t take a punch and Jones ended the fight early.
“People ask me about the Jon Jones fight all the time but it was 12 years ago. It was the one time I tried to cut down to light heavyweight. I didn’t even make the weight,” Porter said to MyMMANews. “Nobody even really knew who Jon Jones was other than the fact he was this new dude who was on a tear. He was fighting every other week. When I signed to fight him, I think he was 1 or 2-0. By the time our actual fight happened weeks later he was up to 4-0. I had no business cutting down to 205, I didn’t wrestle in high school so I had no experience with weight cutting. I went about it all wrong.
“Not to take anything from Jon but I couldn’t take a punch. We were also fighting in a ring instead of a cage. It was a quick fight man. We exchanged a little bit, he took me down and I had him in my guard,” he continued. “As we got back up, we started to fall into the ropes so he let me up and he hit me and I hit the mat and didn’t know where I was.”
Whether or not the experience will help him in his UFC debut is to be seen. But, Porter is just eager to finally make the walk to the Octagon.
