Already MMA's GOAT, Jon Jones' 2nd Act Could Be Greater Than 1st

The greatest fighter in mixed martial arts history was kind of a mess. We know that now.

He's had two arrests, a positive drug test, a press conference brawl. Not exactly the behavior of someone who is in total control of himself. Nothing close to a reflection of the professionalism and composure he brings with him to the cage, where he seems to take control of everything.

That contrast in personalities—or maybe that dual personality—is exactly what makes Jon Jones' athletic success so stunning.

With all the turmoil swirling around and within him, Jones has still managed to become the best mixed martial arts prizefighter we've seen. In 22 fights, he's had fewer troublesome moments than personal controversies.

In the Octagon, he is a master. He makes the chaos work for him.

Jones was reinstated to UFC's active roster Friday. In a statement, he promised he'd grown as a person and would embrace this new chapter, and he said all the sorts of things someone in this situation is supposed to say.

Hopefully, there will be some meaningful actions behind those words—mostly because Jones has a lot more riding on his behavior than his career. 

But when it comes to his career, what happens if he does live up to his words? What happens if he manages to find calm away from the cage? Who has a prayer of stopping a focused and dedicated Jones?

Remember, the closest fight of his career was a unanimous-decision win over Alexander Gustafsson, and word on the street is that Jones hardly trained for that one, that he never really took the Swede seriously until he was in the thick of it.

And what took place? Jones only gutted out the fifth round, icing the fight by wobbling Gustafsson with a vicious spinning back elbow. He rose to the occasion.

At the time, that was really the last question we had about his fight game. He had overcome every other kind of competitive situation. He'd fought on short notice. He'd squared up with southpaws. He'd faced wrestlers and strikers, rookies and veterans, at sea level and altitude.

He once won despite a broken toe (warning: graphic image) so gnarly it looked like it was about to fall off.

But people still wondered how he would respond with everything on the line, with the pressure palpable in the moment.

We left with an answer: The only thing that could stop Jon Jones is Jon Jones. 

That turned out to be true in a way we didn't expect. Jones' hit-and-run—he eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and can avoid a felony charge by living up to probationary conditions—led to the end of his historic UFC light heavyweight reign when the promotion stripped him of the belt.

Mike Chiappetta

One day in the future, we may look back on the title-stripping with the same contempt most hold for his lone career loss, a disqualification due to downward elbow strikes in a fight he was unconditionally dominating. A DQ, by the way, that may look even more ridiculous soon, given the Association of Boxing Commissions' rules and regulations committee's recent pledge to reexamine 12-to-6 elbows.

Jones' absence from the title picture may also eventually seem more like absurd bureaucracy than meaningful sanction.

To be sure, he deserved some penalty for his criminal transgressions. But the UFC's decision to strip him of the title came without process, guidelines or a method of appeal. The ruling was subject to the company's whim.

That's beside the point now, and perhaps it'll become a footnote.

By the time Jones steps back in the cage, he will have lost a year of his career. However, he'll still be only 28 years old. It goes without saying that's not over the hill, and it's probably just the beginning of his prime.

Among the 11 current UFC champions, only women's strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk (28 years, two months) and interim featherweight champ Conor McGregor (27 years, three months) are younger. In fact, the average age of the current UFC champions is 31 years and two months—nearly three years older than Jones (28 years, three months).

Moreover, the heavier weight classes have always skewed toward older champions:

• Current light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier is 36½.
• When Mauricio "Shogun" Rua won the belt prior to Jones' reign, he was 28½.
• Before him, Lyoto Machida was a few days shy of 31 when he captured the belt.
• Rashad Evans was 29.
• Forrest Griffin had just celebrated his 29th birthday.
• Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was just weeks from being 29.
• Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture were in their mid- and late 30s, respectively.

If Jones feels like jumping up to heavyweight, Junior dos Santos is the only divisional champion in the last decade to win the belt at a younger age than Jones is now.

On top of that, after all this time away, Jones' body is likely refreshed. We've already seen videos of him seriously working out.

Even beyond this evidence, there's little to suggest the rest of the division has caught up to him. Jones has beaten most of the top 10 already. Beyond an interesting style clash with Anthony Johnson, who has some work to do to get to Jones, no one is bringing anything new to him.

Cormier may have the title for now, but their first fight wasn't that close, and it's difficult to imagine Cormier erasing that gap in a matter of months.

Jones was already historically good before his life spiraled out of control. If his court case and suspension were the wake-up calls he suggests they were, if he truly prizes this opportunity and finds focus, the man who was already MMA's greatest could write an even greater second act.