The 5 best UFC fighters from the USA

#2 Jon Jones

He might be a villain, but Jon Jones is a great fighter too

While history may not look too kindly on ‘Jonny Bones’ thanks to his most recent infractions – positive tests for both performance enhancing drugs and cocaine, as well as some terrible out-of-cage behaviour – you simply can’t argue against his unbelievable record when it comes to MMA.

Jones came into the UFC in 2008 at just 21 years old and had only been fighting professionally for four months, but right away you could tell he had some special talent. Dominant wins over the likes of Stephan Bonnar, Jake O’Brien and Ryan Bader followed, with the only blemish on his record being an odd disqualification against Matt Hamill.

In 2011 he stepped in to replace Rashad Evans in a Light-Heavyweight title fight with Mauricio Rua, and in what was one of the most one-sided UFC title fights of all time, Jones destroyed the champion to capture the title.

And thus followed a reign of terror the likes of which had never been seen before at 205lbs. World-class opponents like Lyoto Machida, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans and Chael Sonnen were destroyed in devastating fashion, with the only man to truly test him being Alexander Gustafsson.

Jones didn’t lose his title in the cage – it was stripped following a 2015 hit-and-run incident that saw him suspended for a long period of time, and when he returned with a win over Ovince St. Preux, he soon found himself shelved again due to a positive test for a banned substance.

Upon his return though, he put on one of the best performances of his career to re-take the title from arguably his toughest opponent in Daniel Cormier. A positive test for steroids after that fight has landed him in more hot water, though, and now it seems that the only opponent who can truly defeat him might be himself.

In terms of the calibre of opponents he’s beaten, the way in which he beat them and for the longevity of his reign atop the Light-Heavyweight division, you could probably argue for Jones topping this list, but due to the controversy surrounding his use of PEDs, he only comes in at the second spot.