Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Light Heavyweights

1. Jon Jones

“Bones” was the panel’s easy, unanimous No. 1 pick. Despite my belief that Jones should actually have three more losses than he does, as I thought Alexander Gustafsson, Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes all won three rounds against him, he was far and away my top choice as well. Why? From 2008 to 2019, Jones had an unprecedented run of greatness, even counting the Gustafsson fight. In every other encounter, he utterly smashed his opponent, whether by knockout, submission or lopsided decision, and that list includes countless elite fighters and fellow legends: Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Glover Teixeira, Ryan Bader, Vitor Belfort, Gustafsson in their rematch, Rashad Evans, Ovince St. Preux, and of course his archrival, Daniel Cormier. At his peak, Jones was by far the best striker and grappler in the division, and attained a level of fighting ability we had never seen before. In his first fight against Cormier, one of the greatest wrestlers MMA had ever seen and an Olympic alternate, it was the less-credentialed Jones who took Cormier down. Jones’ idiosyncratic style of striking, with its heavy use of teep kicks and oblique leg kicks, combined with devastating close-quarters muay thai, was unique and unbeatable, and few fighters in MMA history have been more dangerous from top position than Jones. All of that was aided by tremendous intelligence, calm under pressure, a titanium chin and the type of elite athleticism normally reserved for the best basketball or football players. One could even argue that Jones was the best submission artist in the division in his prime, tapping Bader and Machida with guillotines, Jackson with a rear-naked choke, and Belfort with a keylock.

Obviously, Jones’ problems outside of the cage are well documented: a blend of criminal behavior, personal misconduct and performance-enhancing drug violations that kept him sidelined for long stretches of what should have been his prime years. Due perhaps to those issues and what looks to be less dedication, Jones saw a notable dip in his recent performances, leading up to his current hiatus of over two years, during which he has claimed to be preparing to return at heavyweight. Again, despite all the superlatives noted above, I think Jones should be on a two-fight losing streak right now, I would heavily favor UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou over him, and would moderately favor current light heavyweight champ Jiri Prochazka. However, in his prime, which lasted for over a decade and 21 fights in the UFC, Jones may have attained the greatest level of fighting achievement we've ever seen.

Sherdog’s all-time rankings were compiled by a panel of Sherdog.com staff members and contributors, including Lev Pisarsky, Tristen Critchfield, Mike Fridley, Brian Knapp, Ben Duffy, Jay Pettry, Tudor Leonte, Keith Shillan, John Brannigan, Tyler Treese, Christian Stein and Sean Sheehan.