At this point, it’s simply beyond parody. Just over a week ago, longtime UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, perhaps the single most gifted mixed martial artist who ever lived, was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. In his speech, Jones – long a criticized figure in the sport due to his multiple arrests and failed drug tests – promised to continue to engage in more “legal controversy” as he continued his UFC career at heavyweight.

The second he said that, we should have known what was coming next. Several hours later that very same night, an intoxicated Jones was arrested for domestic battery on his fiancee and and injuring or tampering with a vehicle – according to the police report, Jones had smashed his own head into the hood of a police car after his bloodied fiancee had asked a hotel guard to call the cops.

And on and on it goes. Jones, by all rights, should go down in history as the greatest of all time. But his ever-escalating rap sheet, not withstanding his performance enhancing drug history, will ensure that he will go down as more reviled than admired.

There was a 2012 DUI charge where he wrapped his Bentley around a pole, the first sign that the golden boy young champion wasn’t all he appeared. His infamous 2015 hit-and-run on a pregnant woman, leading to him being stripped of the world title. A battery charge after he attacked a cocktail waitress in 2019. Just last year, another DWI charge.

And at every turn, Jones has shown that he’s just as contemptuous of the laws of his sport as he is the laws of society. Four separate times he has either failed drug tests outright or had results flagged due to trace amounts of performance-enhancing substances. For all these offenses, he has faced little more than slaps on the wrist. The UFC, and president Dana White, has allowed Jones to skate on everything. After being arrested just a few days ago, he woke up still ranked as the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. And when next he fights, it will likely be for a world title.

And the saddest part is, none of this needed to be this way. Jones burst onto the scene as a truly revolutionary talent, and matured into a fighter the likes of which we may never seen again. But being coddled from such an early age by one of the biggest sports organizations in the United States – facing no repercussions for his actions – turned him rotten.

Even now, he shows little remorse. After beating his fiancee bloody, Jones posted a picture of himself working out, blaming alcohol for his violent outburst and promising that he would “turn this into the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” The image has since been deleted. White has also blamed alcohol, and Las Vegas, and promised that Jones would stop drinking. There has been no discussion of further punishment.

The UFC is facing a PR crisis even without this. Fighter pay has been placed into the spotlight in a way that I’ve never seen it before, and it seems like the UFC has been losing that publicity battle, especially with White spouting off and making himself look like an idiot at every turn. The UFC could use a win, something to generate goodwill. Releasing Jones, finally giving him the comeuppance he has needed for a decade, would be a start.

And all the while, the detriment of everyone around him, the UFC has enabled Jones to metastasize into something truly horrifying. Jon Jones is no longer a great mixed martial artist. He is no longer a world-class athlete. He is little more than a menace to society, who must serve his time and no longer be permitted a spotlight. Shit like this has been rewarded long enough. Legend or not, if it means to maintain any sense of legitimacy, UFC can no longer employ Jon Jones.