UFC 145 Results: Jon Jones' Win over Rashad Evans Puts Him in Rarefied Air

With his win over Rashad Evans by unanimous decision at UFC 145 to retain his light heavyweight belt on Saturday, Jon Jones once again asserted himself as one of the best mixed martial artists on the planet and, perhaps, as one of the finest fighters of all time in his realm of combat.

All at the tender age of 24, no less.

Bones became the youngest champion in UFC history when ousted Mauricio Rua by TKO in March 2011, thereby swiping Shogun's stake to the light heavyweight title.

Since then, Jones has gone on to defend the belt three times—against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Lyoto Machida and now Sugar Rushad—to enter himself as only the fourth man in UFC history to win four consecutive title fights at 205 pounds.

The other three? Frank Shamrock, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Lidell.

You know, just a "who's who" of light heavyweight legends. Ortiz won six in a row, Shamrock won five in a row before retiring from the UFC, Ortiz won six in a row after him and Lidell carried the torch shortly thereafter with five of his own.

Mathematically speaking, Jones still has some work to do to catch up to either of those two in the annals of UFC lore. Three more victories in a row, including one against Dan Henderson in his next bout, would solidify him as the most dominant champion that the UFC light heavyweight division has ever seen. 

However, Jones has already done more than enough to prove himself as a true giant of the sport. He's beaten four former champions in consecutive fights to establish his place among the MMA pantheon, all the while displaying a repertoire of skills that's already nearly unmatched.  He only figures to improve as time goes by.

The fact that there are already questions swirling about a potential move—either up as a heavyweight or down as a middleweight, presumably to go head-to-head with Anderson Silva—speaks volumes of how far Jones has come in such short order.

Again, the dude's still just 24, folks. He might just be scratching the surface of his true talents.

That's downright scary, or should be, for the rest of his competition.

In both the Octagon and the history books.

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