When looking at the UFC’s current champions, it’s easy to praise, criticize or over-analyze each of their runs to the championship and the performances since they’ve captured gold.
However, of the seven—soon to be eight when the flyweight tournament is completed—one fighter stands above the rest: Jon Jones.
It is hard to believe that the 24-year-old has only been competing in MMA for four years. Over that stretch, the fighter has compiled a record of 16-1, with the only loss coming by disqualification.
The light heavyweight champion has taken the division by storm and dominated every fighter put in front of him. With the ease in which Jones has put away his opposition, it’s easy to forget the level of competition that he has faced.
After defeating former Pride champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in March of last year to capture the UFC gold, Jones has since defeated three former champions in Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans. Jones was able to finish all but Evans.
That list alone gives Jones quite the argument in his favor.
Other divisional kingpins, such as Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre, have reigned longer and have defeated more opponents, but neither can claim the same level of competition that Jones has faced in his first year as champion.
Certainly fighters such as Rich Franklin, Nate Marquardt, Jon Fitch and BJ Penn are top-level competition, but names like Travis Lutter, Thales Leites and Dan Hardy are not in the same ballpark as Jones’ opposition.
Although there are four other fighters currently wearing gold in the UFC, none of them possess the credentials of Jones. Benson Henderson and Junior dos Santos have yet to defend their straps, while WEC crossovers Dominick Cruz and Jose Aldo have struggled with lack of depth in their respective divisions.
All of that leaves Jones as not only the current champion with the toughest run, but perhaps the most dominant as well.
Rob Tatum is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at The MMA Corner. For anything related to MMA, follow him on Twitter.
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