Ranking Jon Jones' UFC Title Fights
Unbroken.
After 22 professional fights—nine of which have come against some of the very best contenders the UFC's light heavyweight division has ever had to offer—Jon Jones has, for all intents and purposes, remained unbroken.
But thankfully, for both MMA fans and Jones' legacy, he hasn't gone untested. He's outclassed certain opponents while making few others appear to be near equals.
Few people would be able to convincingly argue that Jones is anything but the greatest light heavyweight fighter the sport has ever seen. Where the argument continues to burn is whether or not Jones, at 27 years old, is already the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the history of the sport.
It's a curious argument, which is often reignited by the Anderson Silva supporters and the Fedor Emelianenko fanatics. Even the Georges St-Pierre faithful manage to sneak in a few detracting arguments every now and again.
But as Jones noted at the UFC 182 post-fight press conference, it would be hard to deny him the moniker. The quickest of glances at his championship resume should be enough to get the needle moving his way; a detailed examination of his absolute dominance would likely do more.
That said, let us take a look back at the light heavyweight champion's title reign, ranking all of his bouts along the way.
Fights will be ranked not by Jones' dominance but by the lasting impact the victory will have on his career as one of the greatest fighters of all time—if not the greatest.
9. UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen
1 of 9
We start here. Of course we start here.
Sure, he dominated a proven wrestler at his own game. It certainly didn't do him, or the UFC, any favors, though, considering Chael Sonnen was a true middleweight who simply talked his way into a title fight to quench his thirst for UFC gold.
It wasn't necessarily a fight that we needed. Even before going into it, most of us were one Octagon round away from being convinced that Jones was far and beyond the better fighter.
If nothing else, this fight is a stark reminder that Jones is one of the toughest fighters the sport has ever seen; he needed only nine toes to finish his opponent.
8. UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage
2 of 9
Fresh off one of the most dominant performances by a challenger in a title fight, Jones seemed the perfect fighter. But thanks to Jones' previous 14 opponents at the time, we still weren't sure how the young champion would deal with getting hit in the face by a power puncher.
Even after Quinton "Rampage" Jackson stepped into the cage, we still weren't sure. In fact, thanks to Jones' tactical prowess, Rampage only managed to land 24 strikes in a little over three rounds against the young phenom.
It was one of Jones' easier outings as champion; he proved he represented the new wave of fighters in a division of old lions.
7. UFC 172: Jones vs. Teixeira
3 of 9
To some, Glover Teixeira was the man built to stop the unstoppable. He was primed to stop Jones' takedown attack, bite down on his mouthpiece and move forward with some of the heaviest hands of any fighter in the division.
But, similar to Jackson and every other fighter Jones has faced, he wasn't.
He may have stuffed a majority of Jones' takedown attempts, but he also managed to get hit more than twice as much as he hit Jones, according to ESPN.com (158 to Teixeira's 65, to be exact).
All in all, it wasn't a good night to be standing across the cage from Bones.
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6. UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida
4 of 9
The Lyoto Machida puzzle may have been solved already, but that didn't stop a few of us from thinking that The Dragon had the skills to get on the inside of the champion's guard to test his chin.
In that sense, Machida was the guy, landing a solid counterstrike that sent the champion backpedaling inside of the Octagon. He wasn't necessarily in great peril, but it was intriguing to see Jones get clipped and bounce back.
Soon after the brief barrage, Jones took control of the fight and left Machida in an unconscious heap of former champion.
5. UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones
5 of 9
In many ways, this was the fight that started it all.
We'd already gotten accustomed to seeing Jones dominate light heavyweights with wins over Ryan Bader and Stephan Bonnar, but we were all still curious to see how he would fare when competing in the spotlight against the best fighter in the division.
It only took a few minutes to get a definitive answer. He was great. Absolutely, unarguably great.
4. UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort
6 of 9
This was yet another fight against a smaller, natural middleweight who stepped up to fight the champion when nobody else would.
But this one was different for a number of reasons.
First, it lasted a lot longer than Sonnen's try did. Second, Vitor Belfort actually managed to put Jones in a position we'd never seen him in before: danger.
For a good 15 seconds, we saw the champion lose his impenetrable aura of invincibility. He felt pain. He was human. But unlike most of the rest of us who would've tapped within six seconds of Belfort's armbar, Jones didn't.
He worked through the armbar defense before dominating the rest of the bout with a bum arm.
3. UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans
7 of 9
Seeing Jones dominate any and all challengers on their last stop before the top of the mountain was nice and all, but something was missing from the champion's resume.
Ali had Frazier. Magic had Bird. Silva had Sonnen.
We needed to see the champion with a rival of his own. Whether competitive or bitter, it didn't matter. We needed to see his demeanor change. And finally, after about a year with the belt firmly secured around his waist, it did.
Jones had Evans.
It wasn't necessarily the sort of back-and-forth action that most of us were hoping for, but seeing Jones maintain his composure while surrounded by a flood of bad blood was good enough to back up the hype surrounding this fight.
2. UFC 182: Jones vs. Cormier
8 of 9
A lot of people thought Daniel Cormier had it in him to dethrone the champion.
Whether they were convinced the challenger's wrestling pedigree was enough to capitalize on the opportunity, or they wanted to be at the front of the "I told you so" line of soothsayers, a good chunk of people figured this would be where Jones' title reign would come to a screeching halt.
Boy, were they wrong.
Jones didn't just fight from the outside like he did against Shogun, Rampage and Evans. He got in there and gave fans the dogfight they wanted to see, ultimately giving Cormier a decent chance at landing some strikes against his nemesis.
But as it turns out, closing the distance against Jones isn't enough to derail his "GOAT" aspirations. Not even close.
In the end, this probably isn't the end for Jones and Cormier as dance partners.
1. UFC 165: Jones vs. Gustafsson
9 of 9
Few of us were clairvoyant enough to anticipate this one.
Yeah, Alexander Gustafsson was the first man to equal Jones in stature, but that wasn't enough to keep naysayers from pointing at a glaring hole in the comparisons. Jones was still a much longer fighter than Gustafsson, and that would (prior to the fight) likely be a big problem.
But Gustafsson managed to negate the champion's reach and make this arguably the best light heavyweight championship bout in the history of the sport, birthing what many of us are hoping turns out to be Jones' one true rivalry.
Don't agree with the order? Comment below.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report MMA. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University's student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
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