Hi sherdog,
I was thinking about how Jon Jones is probably the best fighter of all time. Then I started considering his run and the guys he beat and I was kind of shocked to find that really he has beaten 3 prime good opponents.
Lets look at the careers of all his opponents within 3 years of title contention. I am not going beyond 3 years because then prime is a consideration I want the fighters to be comparable to the guys he fought.
Shogun.
Record prior: 19-4
Record next 3 years: 3-3 losses to gus and Henderson, chael. Beat Forrest, James T Huna, and Vera...
Rampage.
Record Prior: 32-8
Record next 3 years: 2-2 losses to Bader and Texiera, wins over Mpumbu and Beltran...
Machida.
Record prior: 17-2
Record next 3 years: 4-2 Machida was still good in this fight and its a good win He beat Henderson and Bader and probably got robbed by Davis if you watched that fight. then went on to get to a title shot at MW to lose to Weidman.
Rashad:
Record prior: 17-1-1
Record next 3 years: 2-1 Rashad arguably lost to Dan but he beat him and chael after losing to old lil nog. He then fell off a cliff.
Vitor:
Record prior: 21-9
Record next 3 years: 3-1 wait a minute...
wait... nevermind.. Jones is one of if not the greatest of all time. seriously... these guys were all still good after he beat them... I just turned from a hater to a maybe kind of fan... wow.