The UFC entered a new era of Mixed Martial Arts Saturday night as the torch was passed when Jon “Bones” Jones defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to become the new light heavyweight champion.

Jones used his reach advantage and superior wrestling skills to get the third round TKO victory. Quite frankly, Rua was never in this fight, but I give Rua a lot of credit because he is a true warrior. When Jones was putting the ground and pound on Rua in the third round, most fighters would have just lain there, but Rua chose to get back on his feet. Jones followed up with a punch to the body and a knee to the face and became the youngest UFC champion in history.

Things just keep getting better and better for the UFC. They’re riding high from purchasing their biggest competition in Strikeforce and now they have a well-spoken 23-year-old superstar as the face of their company. People have been comparing Jones to Mike Tyson, but Jones is something that Tyson never was: kid-friendly.

Before the fight occurred Saturday night, Jones and his two coaches stopped a thief from mugging an elderly lady in a park in New Jersey. They were being dropped off at the park for Jones to meditate before his fight when the lady ran toward them, screaming that a man stole her GPS.  Jones and his coaches chased after the thief, and Jones was the first to catch him. He kicked the thief in the leg from behind and put him in a figure-four lock while his coaches jumped him. The police arrived and said they had been trying to catch the guy for quite some time.

While Jones had a very memorable day with his heroics and dominating performance, there was one cloud hanging over his head at the end of the day: Rashad Evans. Evans will be next in line for Jones’ title, and the two made an awkward face-off after Jones defeated Rua. Evans and Jones both train at Jackson’s MMA, and three weeks ago both said they would never fight each other. However, feelings changed when Evans took Jones’ comments in an interview the wrong way. Leading up to the fight with Rua, Jones was bombarded with questions about fighting Evans and said that he didn’t want any more questions about Evans and was focusing on Rua. Evans took it the wrong way and lashed out by saying that Jones’ comments sounded like “fighting words.” After Jones defeated Rua Saturday, Evans told MMA analyst Ariel Helwani that he was done with Greg Jackson.

This has the makings to be yet another huge PPV for the UFC because of all the drama between these two. The UFC can also play the hero vs. villain role for this fight, as Jones is greatly beloved while the fans love to hate Evans. When these two will square off is uncertain, but one thing that is for sure is that the “Bones” Jones era has officially begun.