Throughout our lifetime, we as sports fans, have the rare opportunity to witness certain athletes perform their craft. One such “great one,” Jon Jones, is officially available to compete in the UFC now that his suspension for PEDs will come to an end. What does this mean for the world of mixed martial arts?
In the 1970’s, we were able to witness Muhammad Ali and his journey of becoming one of the most prominent combat sports athletes of all time. His charm, his trash talk, and his smile won him millions of dollars and millions of hearts. Moving on to the 1980’s, we were blessed to watch Joe Montana win Super Bowl after Super Bowl and establish himself as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever pick up a football.
In the 90’s…well, in the 90’s, there was a guy named Michael Jordan and we don’t have to go over that one. The list goes on and on. If we fast forward to present day, there are few names I can think of that have established their greatness and have earned the right to sit on the throne of the sports world. One of those names is Jon “Bones” Jones.
The Beginning
Jon Jones quickly burst onto the scene by winning the first 8 fights of his professional career, including two in the UFC, in less than an year. As soon as Jones signed his first UFC contract, well that signature spelled the end for the UFC light heavyweight division. Win after win piled up for Jones until pretty much everyone realized, “woah… this guy is really good.”
His only loss came to the hands of Matt Hamlil because he mounted Hamlil and hit him with an illegal 12-6 elbow. The truth is he was dominating every second of that fight prior to the stoppage. In a sense, Jones has not been truly defeated his entire career.
The Youngest Champion Ever
On March 19th, 2011, Rashad Evans was scheduled to take on Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the UFC lightheavyweight championship. After Rashad Evans was forced to pull out with an injury, Jones was offered the opportunity to replace his training partner in the fight and compete for the UFC championship.
From this moment on, that’s all she wrote. Jones completely embarrassed Shogun and became the youngest champion in UFC history at 23 years old. It did not matter who the UFC put in his way. Jones went through murderer’s row and cleared out the light heavyweight division. All time great after all time great fell at the hands of this young prodigy. But at the end of day, even Jon Jones is only human and we all know that humans are not perfect.
Everyone needs a Joe Frazier
Some people bring out the best in people while some people bring the worst out in people. For Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier was that person. Their rivalry dated back to Cormier’s Strikeforce days. Jones saw him at a UFC event and told him he could outwrestle him. Since that moment, these two men have been at each other’s throats.
At UFC 182 on Jan. 3rd, 2015, Jon Jones defended his UFC light heavyweight championship against Daniel Cormier for the first time via unanimous decision.
Three days later, Jones checked into a rehab facility after testing positive for cocaine metabolites. Later that year in April, Jones was involved in a hit-and-run accident where he injured a pregnant woman, left the crime scene, then came back for a lump of money. On April 28th, Jones was officially stripped of his title.
The Reign of D.C.
Daniel Cormier went on to become the UFC light heavyweight champion in Jones’ absence. After returning and defeating Ovince Saint Preux in the main event of UFC 197, Jones was flagged for doping and received another ban from the UFC. Which leads us to July 29th, 2017, where Jon Jones brutally knocked out Daniel Cormier to reclaim his UFC throne.
What happened after? I’m sure you can guess. Jones was once again flagged for doping by USADA. Daniel Cormier then reclaimed his UFC light heavyweight championship then went on to win the heavyweight championship as well, becoming one of the only fighters in UFC history to hold two belts at the same time.
He’s Back
Earlier this week, the UFC reinstated Jones and made him eligible to return to the octagon. What does this mean for the UFC? It means that the greatest mixed martial artist to ever grace the octagon is ready to make his return. More importantly, he’s hungry. A hungry and motivated Jones is not something the rest of the light heavyweights are generally wishing for.
Some people may critique this young man’s character and in doing so, they are not wrong. However, let us remember we were all young once. We all made mistakes. What’s important is that this phenom has received the help he needs and has worked to get his life back in order.
These once in a generation athletes have blessed us. No legend in the world of sports has had an easy path to greatness. There were a couple bumps in the road for Jones, but he will be making his return. With a Jones that’s as hungry and motivated as ever, we might witness one of the most phenomenal athletic prodigies cement himself as the greatest of all time.
