UFC 214 results: Drug-free Jon Jones crushes Daniel Cormier, establishes himself as the greatest of all time

When Jon Jones stepped onto the canvas to take his spot in the UFC 214 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, it had been more than four years since “Bones” secured a finish inside the Octagon, an April 2013 drubbing over the grotesquely overmatched Chael Sonnen.

That drought is officially over.

Jones (23-1) returned to his place atop the light heavyweight throne last night (Sat., July 29, 2017) inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., smashing and trashing Daniel Cormier for his fourteenth straight victory.

In the process, the drama-plagued Jones removed any doubt that he was, is, and likely will forever be the greatest light heavyweight champion in the history of mixed martial art (MMA), and perhaps the most accomplished combatant across any weight class.

Sure, Demetrious Johnson is a flawless fighter ... but Jones is a fucking killer.

When you look back at what he's been able to accomplish since hooking up with UFC back in Aug. 2008, it stands apart from his peers. His run from 2010-12 reads like a work of fiction, beating five straight ex-champions and finishing four of them.

Then he took an Olympic wrestler who was undefeated in two different weight classes and beat him by decision after a weekend of coke, then soberly turned him inside out in their long-awaited rematch.

If we want to talk about rankings, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is ranked No. 2 on the pound-for-pound chart and has yet to make a single title defense, to put that list into perspective.

Looking at the top 15 at 205 pounds -- and I say this with all due respect to the victorious Volkan Oezdemir — it’s clear Jones has cleaned out his division, though I’m not opposed to an Alexander Gustafsson rematch, now that “The Mauler” cleaned the clock of Brazilian bruiser Glover Teixeira.

I know, I know, we need to go bigger.

One of the things that made former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva so otherworldly was his ability to give zero fucks about weight classes. Bored with the rank-and-file at 185 pounds, “The Spider” made a handful of trips up to light heavyweight to embarrass ex-champ Forrest Griffin, among others.

If Jones actually made good on his oft-teased jump to heavyweight, where a hulking wrestler named Brock Lesnar promises to be waiting, it would be the sort of fan-friendly spectacle capable of erasing the ghosts of missteps past.

And there are aplenty.

But not many people are talking about DUIs or drug tests or car crashes. Probably because they've been (temporarily) overshadowed by a career-defining win that not only reminded MMA fans that Jones is the true king at 205 pounds, but still in his prime and capable of (finally) realizing his limitless potential — or throwing it all way in spectacular fashion.

Either way, I can't wait to see what “Bones” does next.