Jon Jones is the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. Case closed. And the case cannot be re-opened for at least five years because that will be the time needed before we can acknowledge another fighter making an attempt to nip at the heels of Jones' accomplishments.
After dominating the light heavyweight division from 2008 until his exit in 2020, Jones returned after a three-year hiatus to steamroll Ciryl Gane and claim the UFC heavyweight championship. To date, no opponent has beaten him by knockout, submission, or decision in an MMA fight. And in a sport so wildly unpredictable, the only thing that's remained constant is Jon Jones' winning ways.
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For the majority of fans, Jon Jones stamped himself as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time well before he defeated Gane. But there have been those who refuse to crown him because of issues outside of the Octagon, but there is no fighter better than Jones when the cage door shuts. Question his character all you want, but this is truly a “separate the art from the artist” situation, and the picture that Jon Jones has painted belongs in the Louvre.
Statistically speaking, Jon Jones is the greatest mixed martial artist of all time and it’s not even close. Jones’ latest victory has further separated him from his competition and has made it really difficult for the next generation of MMA fighters to achieve the high standards that he has set. But if we look at the past, there is nobody who can realistically challenge Jones' status as the G.O.A.T.
We’ve seen fighters showcase dominance in a short amount of time. Conor McGregor, Israel Adesanya and Khabib Nurmagomedov come to mind. But their stay at the top was relatively short when compared to Jon Jones. Nurmagomedov won the lightweight title in 2018 and only defended three times before calling it a career in 2020. Israel Adesanya’s ascent was a swift one after making his UFC debut in 2018 and becoming undisputed champion 18 months later. But he only defended the title five times before being knocked out by Alex Pereira in 2022 and his attempt to move up a weight class failed when he dropped a decision to then-champion Jan Blachowicz in 2021. Conor McGregor may have become the first fighter to hold world titles in two divisions simultaneously when he beat Eddie Alvarez in 2016 but he never defended either title and has gone 1-3 since becoming a “champ-champ.”
Jones' torrid reign started at his UFC debut in 2008, saw him become the youngest UFC champion ever by beating Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in 2011, and he fought a minimum of once a year until 2020. He had been a consistent presence in the UFC until his hiatus. When he returned, it was like he never left and now he's aiming to become just as dominant at heavyweight as he was at light heavyweight.
Honestly, he doesn't have to do anything else. Statistically speaking, the distance between Jon Jones and his competition is considerable. A closer look at his peers will paint a better picture.
At one time, Anderson Silva was considered the G.O.A.T. but questions surrounding the quality of his competition and going 1-7 (1 No Contest) in his final eight UFC fights have put a damper on his resume. The door can also be slammed shut on Nurmagomedov’s claim considering that Jon Jones has more UFC title wins (15) than Khabib has total fights in the UFC (13).
For the sake of comparison, the man who many think is the closest to Jones is former welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre. The French-Canadian has long been an ambassador for the UFC and mixed martial arts in general. A tremendous character to go along with an exceptional career have many considering GSP as the G.O.A.T. However, upon closer inspection, the gap between Jones and St-Pierre isn’t as close as some would like to think.
For starters, St-Pierre has two losses in his MMA career: Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. Those blemishes alone put him behind Jones. However, it’s the first-round knockout loss to Serra that really puts a damper on the argument. Serra was seven years older at 32 and a massive underdog who was gifted a title opportunity after winning The Ultimate Fighter 4 Welterweight Tournament. Prior to winning the tournament, Serra was 9-4 with losses to BJ Penn, Karo Parisyan, Din Thomas, and Shonie Carter. It’s not like Serra was riding a wave of momentum heading into that fight. Alas, he dropped and stopped GSP in just one round. St-Pierre would get his revenge but the loss still stands as the most glaring reason why he cannot be compared to Jones.
The loss to Matt Hughes at UFC 50 is much more forgivable as St-Pierre was undefeated with a 7-0 record when he faced the champion. Hughes had a huge edge in experience with a 36-4 record and was considered the greatest welterweight of all time. Hughes was also eight years his opponent’s senior at 31 years of age.
Jon Jones had no such problem against champions and those who had considerably more experience than him. Some have suggested that Rua was on the downside of his career when he faced Jones but that isn’t true at all. He may not have been the destroyer that he was in PRIDE FC but he was lethal and became champion after knocking out the then-unbeaten Lyoto Machida in the rematch. Rua’s MMA record was 19-4 and he was six years older than Jones at age 29 heading into their 2011 title fight. But the 23-year-old Jones sliced right through Rua to become the youngest UFC champion in the promotion's history. That record stands to this day. To punctuate his reign of dominance further, he choked Machida to sleep when they met later that year.
The total combined MMA records of Jones’ UFC opponents before they faced him — including opponents he fought twice — is an outstanding 397-87-2 or 78%. As for St-Pierre, the total combined MMA records of his opponents is an impressive 432-77-4 or an 82% winning percentage.
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On the surface, it may appear that GSP has an edge in the quality of opponents. However, two opponents who challenged Jones for the light heavyweight title — Chael Sonnen and Anthony Smith — had double-digit losses. Although Smith fought his way into title contention, Sonnen talked his way into the title opportunity due to his popularity at the time. Jones has the edge in beating previously undefeated fighters — four to GSP’s one — and seven of his opponents were former UFC champions while St-Pierre has five former champions on his resume.
Jones has never lost and there’s only one split decision on his docket (Thiago Santos) while St-Pierre has two losses and two split-decision wins. Not to mention that Jones’ finishing rate of 63% while St-Pierre lags behind at 53%.
For some reason, there are people who think that St-Pierre fought longer than Jon Jones but both have been professional MMA fighters for 15 years. And when it comes to the UFC, GSP competed 22 times in the Octagon over the course of 13 years while Jon Jones fought 23 times in nearly 15 years (Jones fought six times in four months before debuting in the UFC). Jones took a three-year hiatus before returning in a new division and winning a championship while St-Pierre was gone for four years and returned in a new weight class to claim a title.
The tenures are almost equal but Jones has remained unbeaten with few opponents offering much resistance. His latest outing proves that Jones is no longer among the elite, he is the elite. He is setting a standard that every fighter should strive for but few can come close to. The longer he fights and continues to win, it's likely to be a bar too high for his peers to reach.
And that's what it means to become the G.O.A.T.
