sportbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones Voted Greatest UFC Fighter Of All Time

Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones Voted Greatest UFC Fighter Of All Time

The light heavyweight champion beat some tough opponents in GSP, Anderson Silva and Demetrious Johnson to claim the crown.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Jon Jones might be one of the most controversial athletes on the planet but the UFC light heavyweight champion has been voted ahead of George St-Pierre as the promotions best ever fighter.

On Saturday night Jon Jones defends his UFC light heavyweight title against Thiago Santos in the main event of the stacked UFC 239 in the T-Mobile Arena.

Jones' drugs bans will always make him a controversial fighter but there's little doubting his brilliance and fans haven't doubted it, by voting him ahead of Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre and Demetrious Johnson.

Jones is a controversial character having failed drugs tests on several occasions and been banned for illegal substances.

The American also had to give up his light heavyweight title at one point due to a hit and run incident, although he never had any prison time.

'Bones' returned to the octagon last December, for the first time in over a year following his latest drugs ban, and beat Alexander Gustafsson for the vacant title.

The 31-year-old defended the title in March against Anthony Smith, although there was controversy when the champion kneed his downed opponent.

On Saturday night Jones faces Thiago Santos in the latest defence of a title he's never been beaten in the octagon for.

Jones only career loss inside the octagon came in 2009 via disqualification, in a fight with Matt Hamill, and Dana White confirmed last month that he's trying to get that result turned to a 'No Contest.

Speaking on the Believe You Me podcast UFC hall of famer Michael Bisping, who will be inducted this weekend, agreed with the decision to overturn the result, explaining, "Dana White's trying to have that disqualification loss to Matt Hamill overturned. I get it for marketing purposes. If I'm Dana White I want probably my best fighter to be labeled as undefeated. Because for those people that don't know, Jones has a disqualification loss on his record to Matt Hamill in a fight that he was totally dominating. He was destroying Matt Hamill, he got carried away and he did a downward elbow.

"He [Hamill] was already getting the absolute living daylights beat out of him. So of course Matt Hamill's gonna respond, well hold on. I think the thing was they asked him and he never responded. Well the guy's deaf. No wonder he never responded, he's gotta read the lips. And I'm not trying to be funny or be a d*ck about it. The referee said 'I was asking are you OK?' And he never responded, well the guy is profoundly deaf. And I'm not trying to make fun of him as I say, it's a real factor. And then he had the sh*t kicked out of him, he was covered in blood, there was no way he was gonna win that fight. So of course he was gonna say, 'yeah I don't feel good.' So the referee disqualified Jones. So I kind of understand it from Dana's perspective."

Saturday night will be a great time to see UFC's all time best, especially with such a stacked card throughout.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Jon Jones, Thiago Santos, Anderson Silva, UFC News, MMA News, Demetrious Johnson, UFC, MMA, GSP, Georges St-Pierre