He won a one-night tournament to earn a contract and went on to spend the next several years facing some of the elites in the sport, including current UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira and Canadian standout Simon Marcus. In the summer of 2019, he made his return to MMA, beating former UFC heavyweight Cody East in the King of Sparta heavyweight series, landing a chance to compete on the fourth season of Dana White’s Contender Series.
A unanimous decision win over Colorado-based prospect Ty Flores earned him a call back to the Octagon, and Jacoby has cemented his position on the roster ever since, kicking off his second stint with the promotion with a 7-fight unbeaten streak that carried him into the Top 15 before a rough patch dropped him out of the rankings.
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He got things moving in the right direction again with a violent knockout win over Vitor Petrino on the final fight card of 2024 and seemed to be building some momentum with a quick first-round knockout win at the end of May, only for a broken hand to send him to the sidelines for the remainder of 2025.
“Being a veteran does make it easier — I’ve been through it all, seen it all — but it was unfortunate,” he said. “When I fought in May, it was a great knockout of Bruno Lopes in the first round, only a couple minutes of work, but I broke my left hand, and it gave me fits throughout the year… Crute had called me out a couple fights ago and I was like, ‘Let’s do it in November at Madison Square Garden,’ but then October came around and I was like, ‘My hand is not gonna be ready for Madison Square Garden,’ and they had the Perth card that they wanted him on. It never lined up, but I’ve got the opportunity to fight him now since we’re going back to Australia later this month.”