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Any discussion about the greatest mixed martial artists in history must include Jon Jones. 

Jones has terrorized the light heavyweight division since joining the UFC in 2008, with his lone loss coming by questionable disqualification against Matt Hamill in 2009. Jones won the light heavyweight championship in March 2011 and only ever lost control of the championship because of his -- admittedly long -- list of legal troubles and drug test failures.

Throughout his reign atop the 205-pound division, the idea of a move to the heavyweight division was constantly in play, but it wasn't until May 2020 when Jones vacated the light heavyweight championship and decided the time had come to test the waters of UFC's heaviest division.

On Saturday, Jones will be looking to build on his case for being the "G.O.A.T." when he finally completes a long-awaited move to the heavyweight division to face Ciryl Gane for the vacant championship in the main event of UFC 285.

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While there's plenty of excitement and intrigue surrounding Jones' heavyweight debut, there are also reasons to wonder if he will be able to replicate the same type of dominance he displayed at light heavyweight. Let's take a look at some of the biggest factors that could lead to a disappointing heavyweight debut for one of MMA's all-time greats.

Three years out of competition

Jones' last fight was on Feb. 8, 2020. He defeated Dominick Reyes by winning an extremely-controversial decision to score the third successful title defense of his second run with the light heavyweight title. By that May, Jones was discussing a move to heavyweight to face Francis Ngannou, but the situation devolved into a nasty spat between Jones and UFC president Dana White over his pay. White claimed Jones wanted "Deontay Wilder money," a suggestion that arguably the greatest fighter in UFC history was not worthy of the kind of pay Wilder made that February in his rematch with Tyson Fury for the WBC heavyweight title.

Jones gave up his light heavyweight title in response, tweeting "I hurt myself every time I walk out there and take a punch to the head and not feel my pay is worth it anymore."

While Jones eventually began preparing for his heavyweight move, the contract situation in early 2020 was the start of a lengthy stretch in which Jones has been inactive. He has long stated that he would take a heavyweight move seriously and would want to take the time to bulk up in preparation, which he has done. But fighters fight and going from more than three years out of action to facing maybe the top heavyweight on the UFC roster in Gane is a challenge, to be sure.

"I stopped studying footage as much, I started just looking forward to another day at the office," Jones told Jimmy Smith on "Unlocking the Cage." "The fear was gone, I didn't really fear these guys. I wasn't happy with my pay, either. I was starting to fight guys like Reyes who had been dreaming of fighting me since college and he was just relatively unknown to the general public," Jones admitted. "So I just wanted more. I wanted to be nervous again. I wanted to have fear again. I think fear is healthy and now we're in this position."

There are limited examples of fighters who were out of action for years while still among the sport's elite only to return to again face top-tier opposition. Georges St-Pierre is perhaps the most famous, retiring as a dominant welterweight champion only to return four years later to win the middleweight championship from Michael Bisping. TJ Dillashaw was out for over two years due to drug test failures, losing the bantamweight championship as a result, and returned to take a hard-fought split decision over Cory Sandhagen before repeatedly dislocating his shoulder in a bid to regain the title from new champion Aljamain Sterling. Dominick Cruz was out for more than three years before making a return to the Octagon, suffering a TKO loss to Henry Cejudo for the bantamweight title in his return.

Simply being out of the cage has not proven predictive of performance for other greats of the sport, but it certainly is something to keep in mind with a 35-year-old fighter.

Jones' light heavyweight dominance was already fading

Jones last two trips to the Octagon were a rare dip in his performance against the rest of the light heavyweight field. In July 2019, Jones defended his title against Thiago Santo, but Santos put up a tremendous fight before losing by split decision. That fight marked the first time Jones had lost an official scorecard in his career.

He followed that fight up with his title defense against Reyes. While Jones won that fight by unanimous decision, Reyes deserved the win far more than Santos the fight prior. The majority of media scores for the fight were in favor of Reyes. While a Reyes rematch may have made sense, Jones instead engaged in his feud with White, vacated his belt and set off toward heavyweight.

While he won both fights, cracks were showing in Jones' armor in ways they never had before. Since fighting Jones, Santos -- who also suffered two badly damaged knees in the fight -- has gone 1-4. Reyes lost his next three outings, all by knockout. While there are many factors that could lead those men to go from challenging the greatest light heavyweight ever to awful stretches of failure, it's somewhat concerning that two men who clearly are not part of the 205-pound elite were able to push Jones to the limit.

It is also worth noting that there may be merit to Jones' statements that he'd simply gotten bored competing in a division he'd dominated for so long and stopped preparing as he had in the past.

A completely transformed body

During his three years of preparation for the move to heavyweight, Jones has massively bulked up his frame. At light heavyweight, he was strong but it was his length, speed and variety of attacks that made him a special talent. Now, he has bulked up to nearly the heavyweight limit.

There's no doubt that putting on that kind of size will affect Jones' speed. But it could also impact the delivery of strikes as well as having a big potential impact on his cardio.

There are very few notable mixed martial artists who began their career as light heavyweights who have moved to heavyweight and ranked among the best in the world, and most of the ones who did, did so fairly early into their career.  

These are all hypotheticals but at 35 years old, three years out of action and with a completely new physique, there are plenty of reasons to consider that Jones' transition to heavyweight may not go smoothly. Or, maybe Jones at heavyweight will be the incredible success many have hoped to see for a decade.

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