"The Best Fighter Ever."

That's how people describe former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Inside the cage, he has no rival. None of the other light heavyweights have the same fight IQ and skill. He is entirely without peers.

His record reads like a greatest hits, and contains the names of mixed martial arts legends and top-10 opponents. In the modern era of MMA, no other fighter can claim they fought and beat the best.

But if Jones is viewed as the best fighter of all time, then he is also the biggest waste of potential.

For all of his in-cage accomplishments, his rap sheet shows a lifetime of bad choices and run-ins with the law. He's a man who has been unable to remove negative influences, and it's now begun to affect his ability to make it into the cage on fight night.

For much of his career, he was able to compete despite outside distractions.

His 2012 incident, which involved crashing his Bentley into a telephone pole while driving under the influence, didn't deter him from defending his title against Vitor Belfort four months later.

The same could be said about his UFC 182 pre-fight test, where traces of benzoylecgonine, the primary metabolite of cocaine, were found in his system. Jones defeated Daniel Cormier on fight night to record his eighth successful title defense.

When news of the positive test broke, Jones announced he was checking himself into rehab. A day later, he checked himself out. He later said, "I'm not a cocaine addict by any means or not even a frequent user."

On April 27, 2015, Jones was connected to a hit-and-run incident in Albuquerque. Jones allegedly ran a red light and crashed his car into two other vehicles. An off-duty police officer witnessed the incident as Jones fled the scene on foot. An inspection of the vehicle led officers to discover marijuana in a pipe. He was charged with a felony for injuring a person and leaving the scene.

This incident led the UFC to strip Jones of his light heavyweight title and suspend him indefinitely. He lost out on a year's worth of fight purses, and his sponsors cut ties with him entirely. It was the first real wake-up call that he needed to get his life in check.

After serving his suspension, Jones returned to the Octagon to face Ovince St-Preux for the interim UFC light heavyweight title. He spoke about how he made changes in his training; that he finally was giving fighting his entire focus. It made for a great story: The Redemption of Jon Jones.

The same tale echoed again in the lead-up to UFC 200: a formerly troubled champion who was finally saying and doing the right things to reclaim the belt. 

He had everyone fooled. He nearly made it into the cage.

Jones was pulled two days before his fight after being flagged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for two separate positive tests.

The next day, a tearful Jones showed remorse at a press conference. He wanted us to believe this was all a big misunderstanding. Through tears, he claimed he couldn't even pronounce the names of the drugs he was accused of injesting.

He faces a potential two year band if USADA's recommended suspension is upheld by the UFC. And the Nevada Athletic Commission could impose their own three year ban. That's a lifetime in combat sports.

But, at a certain point, there are only so many times that you can say "I'm sorry," or "Give me another chance," before the world just moves on. That's what Jones is risking.

Someday, when reflecting on his career, he'll be known as the greatest fighter who couldn't enter the cage.