I wasn’t sure how to start this essay, to be honest. Should I stick to an overly analytical approach to only Jon Jones’ mixed-martial arts career or do a general overview of his entire career, including his numerous controversies and run-ins with the law? Either option could fill a novel with that much information, and I don’t get paid enough for that.

No, rather than go on an overly analytical rant in this article, I decided it best to come right out and say it: Jon Jones is the greatest fighter in the history of the UFC. I realize that may be a controversial statement; it’s not a unanimous opinion, but this statement comes from someone who, early on, didn’t want Jones to see the success he ultimately did have. I was always able to see past his mask of insincerity when he was trying to play the role of a mild-mannered, devoted Christian; his wild run-ins with the law and failed drug tests exposed his true nature to MMA fans, but his legacy in the octagon is not dependent on those incidents; it’s why I choose to skip over them in this article.

While many would counter that failed drug tests should be a strike against his legacy, it’s important to remember the level of natural talent he possessed entering the sport¹. Daniel Cormier, his biggest rival, admitted that Jones is so talented that he didn’t need to use performance-enhancing drugs to beat him; it shouldn’t be a surprise that it only took Jones roughly four months from the day of his first professional MMA fight to have his first UFC fight on August 9th, 2008. He was 6-0 with five wins coming by way of KO/TKO, all in the first round, and his other win coming by submission via guillotine choke in the third round. His UFC debut was on the preliminary card of UFC 87 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, stepping in on 12 days’ notice² against André Gusmão. Gusmão, to his credit, went the distance with Jones, providing a step up in competition and a striking challenge at times, but lost by unanimous decision with two of the judges scoring it 30-27, a score I agree with.

Jones then won his next two fights against Stephan Bonnar and Jake O’Brien via unanimous decision and second-round submission with a guillotine choke, respectively. Bonnar, a veteran brawler most famous for his legendary fight with Forrest Griffin in the finale of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, struggled to defend Jones’ takedowns and was caught off guard by Jones’ unorthodox striking methods, such as his spinning elbows, spinning-back fists, upward elbows, and oblique and other odd-angle kicks; some of these techniques he flashed against Gusmão but fully displayed against Bonnar. Bonnar was aggressive with Jones, attempting to keep the fight close or in the clinch, but was tossed around the octagon and hit with the more damaging strikes, losing by unanimous decision, 29-28 on two judges’ scorecards, a score I agree with, although one judge gave all three rounds to Jones. Following his main card victory over Bonnar at UFC 94, his submission victory over O’Brien served as the penultimate fight on the preliminary card of UFC 100. He fought defensively in the first round, striking from an outside range, landing more efficient and significant strikes than O’Brien, and stuffing all his takedown attempts³. It looked to be more of the same after a minute’s rest, with Jones getting slightly more aggressive with his striking until he once again stuffed an O’Brien takedown, this time locking in the guillotine choke and getting a tap-out at two minutes and forty-three seconds in the second round.

His first, and as of this writing, only professional MMA loss was in the co-main event of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Finale, but that loss comes with air quotes. Jones and his opponent, Matt Hamill, were both up-and-coming fighters in the light heavyweight division at the time; this fight served as a fast track to a future title shot for whoever won. The first two minutes and 30 seconds of the fight saw Jones and Hamill striking from range at each other, with Hamill being stuffed on a takedown attempt during that time as well. Jones then performed a successful outside trip with two minutes and 26 seconds left in the first round and successfully transitioned into full mount. Jones then landed ground-and-pound for over a full minute, bloodying Hamill and looking to the referee, Steve Mazzagatti, as he was doing so, trying to get a stoppage as Hamill wasn’t fighting back or defending well. With close to a minute remaining in the round, Jones landed a few 12-6 elbows onto Hamill, and Mazagatti called a stop to the contest, with Hamill being unable to continue as he had dislocated his shoulder during the fight; rather than take a point away, Jones got disqualified for the intentional illegal elbow strikes.

Jones took the disqualification loss in stride, stating losing only makes the greats come back better, but after losing by disqualification in a dominant performance, Jones’ next fight was against a more seasoned fighter in Brandon Vera, who was also once an up-and-coming prospect like Matt Hamill before him. Vera was 11-4 at the time, and although he was coming off a loss entering this fight, that loss was against Randy Couture, who was 46 but still a legendary talent. It would be a test to see if Jones could get by a more established fighter who had, at the time, only been competing in the light heavyweight division within the past two years due to Vera cutting down from heavyweight in 2008. For Vera, it would be a chance to prove he could hang with the upcoming generation of fighters. It was Jones’ penultimate free fight card appearance and his first time ending the show as the main event.

It took Jones six seconds to close the distance, clinch up, and land an outside sweep for a takedown to start the fight. He maintained top control in Vera’s full guard for roughly forty seconds, landing some ground and pound, but Vera was defending well and push-kicked Jones off of him as he tried to posture up for devastating ground and pound to take the fight back to the feet. Jones, however, was more active on the feet, fluidly sliding back to dodge Vera’s strikes, catching his attempted kick and forcing him to scramble to the edge of the octagon. Having closed the distance once more, Jones locked in the clinch and ended up shooting a double leg, and while Vera was able to keep his back to the cage and get low, Jones just outmuscled him and took him down once again just one minute and thirteen seconds into the first round. However, Vera continued defending well, staying active while on his back and preventing Jones from posturing up or transitioning to a better position; unfortunately, he landed an illegal upkick as Jones was on one knee two minutes and 20 seconds into the round.

The fight was paused three seconds later after Jones’ protest to referee Herb Dean, giving Jones time to recover and a point deduction from Vera; after Jones told referee Herb Dean he could continue, Dean asked Jones if he wanted his position back. Jones said yes, and after resuming the fight where it left off, Vera landed another upkick that Joe Rogan exclaimed was another illegal kick; the camera angle doesn’t show us the other side of his body with the knee in question on the ground until after Jones scrambled back into Vera’s full guard. There was no halting of the fight, as it landed on Jones’ shoulder and therefore wasn’t worthy of a complaint, I suppose. Instead, Jones focused on landing elbows on Vera’s midsection and cutting off his breathing when he tried to grab Jones’ arms to prevent that. He maintained top control in Vera’s full guard until he managed to land a small right hook on Vera’s face while still in his full guard that stunned him long enough for Jones to posture up and land a nasty elbow on Vera’s eye three minutes and thirteen seconds into the round. It was all over from there, as Jones landed vicious ground and pound for the next six seconds as Vera covered his face, pushed Jones away with his feet, and rolled over onto his stomach as Jones chased him to continue landing punches until Dean stepped in between them and told Jones he had won the fight.

Jones’ next two fights were against Vladimir Matyushenko and Ryan Bader on March 21, 2010, and February 5, 2011, respectively. Matyushenko was 39 but sported a 24-4 record entering his fight with Jones, and yet, proved to be no match for him. Matyushenko was taken down 58 seconds into the contest, and after giving up on an armbar attempt from his half-guard, lost by TKO after Jones transitioned into side control and then into a crucifix and rained elbows down until referee Herb Dean stopped the fight at one minute and fifty-six seconds in the first round. Following the win over Matyushenko, with Bader’s undefeated 12-0 record against Jones’ 11-1 record and the allure of his disqualification asterisk, it was essentially two undefeated 12-0 fighters competing for the next title shot; the last time Jones fought in a non-championship fight, as of this writing, meaning he’s had more five-round championship fights than he’s had three-round fights in his MMA career.

Jones and Bader were the third fight on the main card of UFC 126; Jones wasn’t the main event as he had been against Matyushenko and Vera before him, but I think he was content with being on a pay-per-view event with 725,000 buys⁴ rather than being the main event of a live television event. Despite Bader being the undefeated fighter in this situation, Jones was the more poised one, taking the center of the octagon and preferring to let Bader come to him and have Bader be the one using more energy by constantly being forced to move. However, Jones shot for a takedown thirty seconds into the fight and was caught in a guillotine attempt but successfully secured the takedown, rolled into side control, and landed knees and elbows until Bader had to let go of his neck, where Jones then took north-south control for nearly a minute and almost choked Bader out.

Bader scrambled to the edge of the cage and got into side control before managing to sprawl and stand back on his feet, separating from Jones at roughly the halfway point of the round. Bader, however, quickly proved unsuccessful on the feet, whiffing on punches that had him lunging to where Jones was swiftly sliding back from. Jones, on the other hand, was able to use his reach to patiently poke away from outside the pocket, landing jabs and kicks to the body and head, forcing Bader to try and shoot on Jones at the three-minute and twelve-second mark, ending with his takedown attempt being stuffed and forced to end up in the sprawl position once more. Jones maintained control in a half-spawl and half-side control position before Bader got back into sprawl and to his feet, where Jones jumped over the hunched Bader and quickly backclinched him against the octagon. To his credit, Bader grabbed an arm and went to the mat looking for a kimura but lost the leverage, giving Jones top control in half guard with 53 seconds remaining in the round. Jones kept this position, landing one big elbow to the face and some punches and elbows to the body and head while also looking for a submission. It was an easy-to-score 10-9 round in Jones’ favor.

The two stayed on their feet for most of round two, going the first three minutes and 35 seconds before making their way to the mat. However, this suited Jones fine as he better found his range in this round and was opening up his offense a little more. Bader landed a couple of good punches as Jones made his way inside and even stuffed a halfhearted takedown attempt when they quickly clinched and separated at one point, but couldn’t take Jones down either and couldn’t find his range before Jones again clinched up. Bader attempted to drop down and toss Jones away, perhaps quickly follow up and gain top control, but Jones held onto Bader, forcing him into an odd, balled-up position as Jones wrapped his arm around Bader’s neck. It was all formalities from here, as the next forty-five seconds consisted of Jones solidifying his position and locking the guillotine submission in as Bader tapped at the four-minute and twenty-second mark of round two.

Immediately after defeating Bader, Rogan informed Jones in the post-fight interview that due to his teammate, Rashad Evans, getting injured during his training camp for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against Maurício Rua, he would be receiving the title shot instead. Forty-two days later, Jones would make that a reality and became the youngest UFC champion ever at the age of 23 years and 242 days when he defeated Rua in the third round of the main event of UFC 128 via TKO. Rua’s first defense of the light heavyweight championship was a devastating loss that was never a contest, as you could make the case for the opening round being scored 10-8 in Jones’ favor due to his overpowering ground game, tenacity, and efficient striking resulting in Rua not inflicting any damage. Rua did showcase good defense on the ground early on, transitioning to full guard and managing to get back to his feet with a minute and forty seconds remaining in the round, but accomplished nothing as Jones outstruck him before he failed to take Jones down with an attempted leglock, fell to the mat, and had to go back to the ground game with his half guard this time to end the round. Jones even controlled over half the first round with three minutes and eighteen seconds of control time alone; if you still want to be charitable and score it 10-9 in Jones’ favor, you have to judge the second round 10-8 in Jones’ favor.

The second round was even more lopsided, as Rua had no answer for Jones’ height and reach advantage, missing every shot as he moved inside to close the distance. Jones’ defense was impeccable, sliding out of harm’s way consistently while proving he could outstrike Rua, landing several of his signature unorthodox striking techniques throughout the first half of the round, notably the oblique kick. Rua attempted a kick of his own at the two-minute and twenty-second mark of round two, but Jones caught it and threw him to the ground, where Jones maintained top control in half guard and landed damaging ground and pound to a tired and now bloody Rua. He even went for a leglock in the final five seconds of the round while still landing a swinging fist from behind him that hit Rua in the face while doing so. Round two was a dominant display from Jones, as even though he had 31 fewer seconds of control time⁵ in round two, Rua had no control time and landed less than 20% of his significant strikes this round, so not only did Rua no damage this round but he was incredibly inaccurate with his striking while doing so.

Knowing full well he was behind on points, Rua attempted to be more aggressive with his striking to start round three but got too ahead of himself and tried to take Jones down with another failed leglock attempt from a back clinch. Rua did manage to get Jones to fall on his ass to the canvas, but some quick spawl work saw Jones win the leverage battle, nearly grab a kimura as Rua began to spawl, and then overpower him as he drove Rua back first into the mat. Rua was back in half guard just a minute into round three; however, Jones wasn’t content with just control, staying busy with ground and pound while attempting to posture up for more devastating strikes, and while he landed some shots in a flurry of straights, Rua was able to push Jones with his feet and force him into Rua’s full guard.

Despite the slight positional advantage for Rua, it mattered little, as Jones postured up and rained down devasting punches to Rua’s face, as all the champion could do was cover up and sway around to force Jones to give up his position and back down into the guard. It only delayed the inevitable, as the fight was over roughly a minute later, with Jones fighting for a better position in Rua’s half guard before landing a series of elbows that damaged Rua severely. Rua sprawled to avoid further damage, took a knee to the side of his abdomen and an uppercut on the chin as he got to his feet and was walked across the cage by Jones. With Rua’s back to the octagon wall and him simply covering up, Jones landed another uppercut, this time to the body, and then landed a knee that went through the opening in Rua’s guard after the body shot landed, hitting Rua in the side of the head while Rua was already sliding down in reaction to the body shot, sending him to the mat. Referee Herb Dean stopped the contest, and Jones made history that night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, becoming the youngest UFC champion in extremely dominant fashion.

After winning the title, Jones successfully defended it eight times against a murderer’s row of former and future champions and challengers consisting of Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira, and Daniel Cormier. Introducing his signature first-round crawl in the opening round of his first title defense against Jackson, he finished half of those fights, three by submission and one by TKO, and of all his decision wins in that streak, he only lost three rounds total in those four fights. His 1,501-day reign with the title is, as of this writing, the fourth-longest consecutive days as a champion streak in UFC history, and his eight consecutive title defenses are also the fourth-most successive title defenses in UFC history and the UFC record for most consecutive light heavyweight title defenses, as of this writing.

He later added to those statistics by winning the championship again before leaving the division to fight at heavyweight; Jones’ legacy is perfectly displayed in the hectic manner the light heavyweight championship history on Wikipedia is forced to show gray blocks with black text explaining how the belt changed hands not due to Jones losing his fights, but because they were overturned or had the title stripped from him after the fact. The entire division was held up at one point because while the current champion at the time, Daniel Cormier, was injured, Jones got suspended for a failed pre-fight drug test after winning the interim championship in his return fight against Ovince St. Preux on April 23, 2016, at UFC 197. His official 2,098-day reign between two official title reigns doesn’t even account for the day he beat Daniel Cormier the second time at UFC 214 or all the days he held the title until the California State Athletic Commission retroactively declared the fight a no-contest and reinstated Cormier as champion. Jones tied Demetrious Johnson for the record for most UFC title defenses with 11; Johnson accomplished this consecutively, but Jones would’ve been in position to break that record by the time of his fight against Anthony Smith if he had never been stripped of the title, even if Jones hadn’t taken any more additional fights than the ones on his record. Who knows if he’d have taken more fights without the distractions that would have given him more time to devote to his profession.

His thorough dissection of Gustafsson in their rematch at UFC 232, in particular, was incredibly impressive, as not only did he pick apart Gustafsson on the feet, an area of the fight some would have considered to be in Gustafsson’s favor, but he dismantled the man who gave him the closest fight during his first title reign. Gustafsson stuffed all of Jones’ takedown attempts in the first two rounds much like he did the majority of their first fight; by the time round three started, Jones’ first takedown attempt led to ever-transitioning ground and pound that ended the match two minutes and two seconds into the third round. After Cormier moved up in weight to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship against Stipe Miocic at UFC 226, he officially vacated the light heavyweight title the day before Jones won the vacant belt at UFC 232; Jones had officially reinstated his status as the undisputed light heavyweight champion after three years of distractions interrupting his reign.

However, his second reign as light heavyweight champion came under more scrutiny, as fans believed Jones’ performances were step-downs from his dominant displays during his first reign. Even though he defended the title three times before vacating in August 2020, six months after he successfully defended it against Dominick Reyes, a controversial decision that I assure you I will cover momentarily, fans view those three title defenses as Jones fighting safer and with less incentive to finish the fights. His first defense came against then fast-rising potential star Anthony Smith, who had gone on a three-fight winning streak since moving up to light heavyweight, all finishes, and was 7-2 overall in the UFC; a 32-13 total MMA record before entering the octagon with Jones.

While it’s true he couldn’t finish Smith, he did dismantle him by a score of 48-43 on my scorecard. Jones was deducted two points in the fourth round after he landed an illegal knee to a downed opponent; much to Smith’s credit, he immediately said he was fine to continue after being consulted by the ringside physician. That was with less than ten seconds remaining in the round, a round Jones was winning 10-8 even on the actual judges’ scorecards, but I also scored the third round a 10-8 due to Jones possessing even more control time⁶ while landing and keeping Smith from even throwing strikes at a similar rate. I suppose the Nevada State Athletic Commission-appointed judges don’t appreciate the striking visual of a man grappled into the fetal position against the octagon wall as he’s severely outstruck the entire round since they scored the third round a 10-9. Smith showed heart, but it just wasn’t a competitive fight.

His next title defense tied the UFC record for most title fights with 13, currently at 15, as of this writing, and came at UFC 239 against Thiago Santos. Santos had a 21-6 record entering the fight and was on a four-fight winning streak, 3-0 at light heavyweight after moving up from middleweight; his striking and talent were on full display in the opening round, getting Jones to chase him while landing more shots, stuffing a takedown, and dodging Jones’ unorthodox striking techniques, not allowing Jones’ length to be the deciding factor on the feet in the first round. Santos stayed active with leg kicks in the first round and used leg kicks all night to try and disrupt Jones’ rhythm; it worked in the first round, as I scored it 10-9 in Santos’ favor. However, just over ten seconds into round two, Santos’ leg kick hurt him more than it hurt Jones, as his leg visibly shook, and he hobbled away from Jones against the octagon wall. However, Santos displayed true heart and grit by sticking it out, firing off a series of left hooks on a pursuing Jones, and continuing to fight.

Despite Santos’ injury, Jones was cautious with his approach, not looking to score a takedown or press the issue with his striking. He displayed great defense, avoiding most of Santos’ strikes⁷, and seemingly every kick Santos threw, as the one Anik even said was a “good body kick,” with 2 minutes and 38 seconds left in the round didn’t land, as Jones caught it. He was perhaps a little too cautious, as he had Santos backed up near the edge of the octagon and off-balance due to putting weight on his injured leg. Jones then landed a roundhouse kick to the chest, knocking Santos down, and all Jones managed was a right uppercut as Santos was on his ass and a left hook to the side of the head as Santos quickly got back to his feet. Jones backed up as Santos got back to his feet, re-establishing his outside range, and that was the most aggression in his pursuit of Santos that entire round; still 10-9 in Jones’ favor due to his superior striking accuracy. Truthfully, it was more of the same in the third round, as Santos would put together a series of strikes, even if most of them missed or were blocked, only to have Jones snatch the momentum with cleaner, much more significant strikes as he controlled the outside range and pace of the fight, even scoring a knockdown with an elbow as he quickly closed the distance on an off-balance Santos; another 10-9 round for Jones.

Santos showed a lot of heart to start the fourth round, even continuing to kick with his injured leg as he had all night, but was still largely unsuccessful in landing anything significant. Jones continued dictating the pace of the fight as Santos’ leg prevented him from using his full mobility, with Jones able to stand in front of Santos and dare him to press back and open himself up for counterstrikes. It led to another less-than-aggressive round from Jones, but it continued working. Jones kept an injured Santos on the run and landed the cleaner strikes while controlling the range and displaying good defense; another methodical 10-9 round for Jones on my scorecard. Despite a 39-37 lead on my scorecard after the fourth round, some of the criticisms of Jones’ second reign as UFC Light Heavyweight Champion are fair to levy against this particular fight, at least, as he was far too lax in picking his spots against a compromised Santos, and really should’ve finished this fight.

The fifth and final round can only cause one to double down on those criticisms, as Jones stuck to the game plan and was incredibly defensive. While he did land more strikes with higher accuracy, they weren’t very significant and generated no real pressure as he pursued Santos. Santos, to his credit, actually shot forward and swung for the fences multiple times throughout the round, generating real pressure and forcing Jones to retreat and get clipped a couple of times; despite the stats, I’d go 10-9 in Santos’ favor for the final round as he looked to bring the fight while Jones took what he could get and lived with a decision. Jones won on a split decision, 48-47, a score I agree with, but I am surprised one of the judges scored it 48-47 to Santos. I understand giving round five to Santos due to Jones’ relative inactivity; however, Jones wasn’t operating at that level the entire fight and did more than enough to deserve a unanimous decision.

However, I’ve finally arrived at the controversial Reyes fight, Jones’ last title defense and last fight at light heavyweight. Reyes won round one on my scorecard and was nearly on his way to a 10-8 had he not slowed down significantly in the last two minutes of the round, preferring to conserve energy after outstriking and knocking down Jones in the first three minutes while also preventing a takedown in the opening seconds⁸. Allowing Jones to play his game on the outside allowed him to get some clean striking in and dictate the pace with good defense as he had the prior two fights, making up for Reyes’ hot start and giving Reyes a 10-9 lead heading into the second round on my scorecard.

I thought Reyes also won the second round 10-9, although Jones did make it close for most of it. Jones showcased experience and poise with his great defensive work, as even when Reyes had momentum and was charging him, he never absorbed any big shots that wobbled him and slid away from a fair amount of Reyes’ strikes throughout the second half of the round. However, Reyes did connect with a solid left uppercut that made Jones stumble and back up with 20 seconds to go in the second round, which, in my eyes, secured the 10-9 score for Reyes as Jones had been able to keep an effective pace with Reyes up to that point after the initial barrage in the opening minutes.

Once again, I have to score another round 10-9 in Reyes’ favor, as he just had more going for him in round three than Jones did. He threw more strikes, landed more strikes, landed the more damaging strikes, landed at a slightly higher percentage, and even stuffed both of Jones’ takedown attempts, although one of the stuffed takedowns was as the round ended. Jones remained the pursuer this round; that’s all I can say for him; while Reyes slowed down as round three dragged on, he still had the more significant strikes as Jones remained defensive and picked his spots.

How, then, does Jones win this fight if he’s down three rounds already in a five-round contest? Well, preferably not by getting off to the initial start in the fashion he did, getting clipped by Reyes in the first 20 seconds. However, Jones was able to get inside and secure a clinch for a quick takedown that Reyes quickly stood up from, only to get taken right back down. Reyes did get up with some effort, leading to Jones delivering a couple of knees to the gut as he held solid wrist control against the octagon wall. It was a different fight from there, as Jones was constantly approaching, keeping the pressure on, defending strikes well, and landing the more significant strikes. Reyes defended Jones’ takedown attempts after being taken down earlier; he still spent considerable energy grappling to escape, and it noticeably wore him out, as he went from stringing combinations together to landing one good shot at a time as Jones established an effective outside range and pressured Reyes. I’d score the fourth round 10-9 in Jones’ favor, making the fifth round dire for Jones.

Reyes came out striking to start the final round, applying good pressure until Jones shot for a takedown 30 seconds into it. He secured it and held Reyes down for roughly six seconds but was able to keep wrist control against the octagon wall and continue striking Reyes’s legs and body with his knees. Reyes was noticeably more exhausted after escaping from grappling exchanges with Jones; as a result, he got clipped more frequently than earlier while being less accurate with his striking. Despite Jones applying virtually all the pressure this round and requesting Reyes swing for the fences in the final ten seconds as Jones did the same, Reyes chose to dodge away from Jones as he attempted a flying knee and spinning back fist. In fairness, Jones didn’t do enough to finish the fight and didn’t ever seem to take his game into that next gear, even in the championship rounds. Jones struggled to secure meaningful takedowns and land strikes that put Reyes in danger of being finished, nor did he ever increase the intensity of his striking volume in the final minutes. I’d still give that round to Jones, 10-9, but that means the final score is 48-47 in favor of Reyes on my scorecard; didn’t I say this man was the greatest fighter in the history of the UFC earlier in this essay?

Considering what it took for Jones to get to this point and who he had to beat, it’s almost as if a karmic shift happened to fix the cosmic imbalance of his record. He was just two months shy of having been a professional MMA fighter for 12 years and already attained a lifetime’s worth of success and achievements. The only thing missing from the Jon Jones factor was that he didn’t have a perfect record; everyone who knows the sport understands Jones didn’t lose that fight despite what his record says. Jones was pummeling Matt Hamill and had looked to the ref to try and get him to call it before the 12-6 elbow even occurred; Mazagatti should’ve stopped it before it got to that point. Jones should’ve been 27-0 entering this fight and 27-1 when he left; he could have stepped aside and taken three years off, just like what ended up happening anyway, and the audience could then step back and reflect on the streak of dominance displayed for a dozen years in what was arguably the premier weight class at the time he took over.

I am not saying Reyes didn’t deserve to win that fight because, based on a 10-point must system, he should have won three rounds, 48-47, and won. However, it’s the fight game, and honestly, as well as he did, it was a close fight. Reyes threw a lot of strikes, but his accuracy was under 50%; he knocked Jones down early and caught him with some good strikes in those early rounds, but Jones displayed great defense and blocked or rolled with a bunch of those strikes as well. As the fight dragged on into those championship rounds, Reyes became visibly gassed, and those punches that were staggering Jones or momentarily freezing him up were coming out much more solitarily and quite visibly not affecting Jones as much by then. Not to mention, Reyes only brought the fight to Jones in the first round; after that, Jones was pursuing Reyes while still establishing an outside range, no less; some judge against you if you’re fighting on the back foot, and Reyes undeniably was. His takedown defense was great but not perfect, as he got taken down twice, once in both championship rounds, and while Jones couldn’t hold him down long, he still could establish dominant grappling positions to further take the wind out of Reyes’ sails. I wouldn’t, but I can see why someone would judge it 48-47 in Jones’ favor; regardless, Jones did leave that fight 27-1, vacated the belt six months later, and didn’t fight for three more years.

Reyes, meanwhile, left a piece of his soul in that ring that night and lost his next three fights, as of this writing. It’s that cosmic imbalance again; who knows if Reyes would’ve won a rematch with Jones, who knows if Jones would have even taken a rematch, and who’s to say Jan Błachowicz doesn’t get the title shot and do what he ended up doing to Reyes in reality if Jones semi-retired after a hypothetical loss anyway? Perhaps Reyes was never going to be a dominant champion, and his downslide was inevitable; it still sucks he didn’t win the title when he had a better argument for winning than losing; that’s the fight game sometimes.

Still, how does that make Jones the greatest? Sure, he returned last year to quickly submit Ciryl Gane and win the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship, becoming the eighth multi-division champion in UFC history; his legacy had been set long before that, though. Anderson Silva defended his belt ten consecutive times and still has the UFC record for longest individual reign as champion; Demetrious Johnson defended his belt for a UFC record 11 times consecutively. GSP lost two fights, one to Matt Hughes and one to Matt Serra, but avenged those losses in the rematches, finished his career on a 13-fight win streak that included nine consecutive title defenses, stepped away for four years and returned for one fight to win the UFC Middleweight Championship. Khabib retired 29-0. Fedor Emelianenko may have never fought in the UFC, but after suffering his first loss in his MMA career on December 22, 2000, he didn’t lose another fight for the rest of the decade. What puts Jones above any of them? It’s because when comparing and contrasting all their accomplishments and accounting for eras, and it’s that close, you start debating, even if with yourself, who would win in a fight between the people you’re comparing; I struggle to think of someone who could beat a prime “Bones” Jones.

That’s not to insult anyone’s favorite fighter or denigrate anyone else’s accomplishments in the sport. When the longest-serving president in the company’s history publicly⁹ admits¹⁰ multiple times that Jon Jones is the best fighter in the history of the UFC and the entire history of the sport, it’s hard to deny Jones’ success. Whether or not you like Jones or even respect him, you can’t deny his accomplishments and the mark he left on the history of the UFC, displaying dominance that no one may ever duplicate. Now that he’s 36-going-on-37, some¹¹ are saying Jones is ducking Tom Aspinall, which is unfair because although Jones didn’t end up retiring by the age of 30 as he initially stated in a 2013 interview¹², Jones still established his desire to retire while still physically healthy, and those three years of controversies occurred around the time he was 30-years-old anyway. Now Jones got visibly injured on camera while training for Miocic; Miocic would indeed have been coming off a two-year-and-eight month lay-off after being knocked out in the second round of his championship fight against Ngannou; Aspinall still wasn’t seriously on the radar until Jones pulled out against Miocic. This series of events led to Aspinall knocking out Sergei Pavlovich in one minute and 19 seconds into the first round for the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 295 on November 11th, 2023. As stated above, however, winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship didn’t solidify Jones’ legacy; he already was cemented as the greatest in the eyes of a majority of fans before that moment; whoever his retirement fight ends up being against and whatever the result is, if he even has one; it’s practically irrelevant to how people will view Jones in the annals of MMA history.

Editor’s Notes

1. MMA Fighting – 3/16/2011 – The Making of Jon Jones
2. WebArchive/MMAJunkie – 7/28/2008 – UFC newcomer Jon Jones to replace Tomasz Drawl at UFC 87
3. UFC Stats – UFC 100 – Jon Jones vs. Jake O’Brien
4. Bloody Elbow – 12/10/2011 – Early Estimates Peg UFC 126 at 700-750K Pay-Per-View Buys
5. UFC Stats – UFC 128 – Maurício Rua vs. Jon Jones
6. UFC Stats – UFC 235 – Jon Jones vs Anthony Smith
7. UFC Stats – UFC 239 – Jon Jones vs Thiago Santos
8. UFC Stats – UFC 247 – Jones Jones vs Dominick Reyes
9. Bleacher Report – 6/14/2018 – Dana White: Jon Jones Greatest Ever; ‘Imagine If He Tried Even a Little Bit’
10. Daily Mirror – 6/9/2022 – Dana White insists UFC star Jon Jones is still “greatest of all time” ahead of return
11. YouTube/The Pain Game – 1/10/2024 – EMBARRASSING! Jon Jones Officially DUCKS Tom Aspinall
12. USA Today – 11/23/2013 – UFC champ Jon Jones details intentions to retire by 30