Jon Jones should’ve been the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.

He should’ve continued to take down opponent after opponent in the toughest division in the UFC for the next 10 years. The former light heavyweight champion and pound-for-pound king might even have tried his hand at another weight class if he remained dominant at 205 pounds.

But after being removed from the main event against Daniel Cormier at UFC 200, the biggest card in the promotion’s history, for an anti-doping violation, it’s time to consider the realistic possibility that we have seen the best of Jones and that his legacy will forever be mired in legal and drug issues.

“I want to apologize to all the fans who came out to support me for UFC 200, the UFC, the Fertittas,” an emotional Jones said at a news conference set up by him and his team Thursday. “I want to apologize to Daniel Cormier. I know this fight means a lot to him. It means a lot to me.

“I know something good will come from this but right now it’s hard to see it,” he added.

He has not been proven guilty, and denies taking an illegal substance, but another controversy is the last thing the beleaguered former champion needed at a time when he was working to rejuvenate his image and his career.

“Supposedly they found something in one of my samples. I don’t know what it is. I don’t even know how to pronounce it,” he said. “Being labelled as someone who would cheat hurts me more than anything in my career.”

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Jones broke into the UFC as an undefeated 21-year-old in 2008. He began what would become one of the most dominant runs by any fighter in the history of combat sports with a unanimous decision victory over Andre Gusmao at UFC 87. 

The Rochester, N.Y. native fought seven times from August 2008 to February 2011, going 6-1 — the only blemish his infamous disqualification loss to Matt Hamill involving the use of illegal 12-6 elbows — before earning a title shot.

At just 24, Jones put on a clinic against MMA legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to become the youngest champion in UFC history.

The title would get comfortable around Jones’ waist for the next four years, despite the murderer’s row of contenders the UFC continued to put in his path.

Jones’ résumé of eight consecutive title defences includes four former UFC champions in Quentin “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and Vitor Belfort, former middleweight contender Chael Sonnen, light heavyweight stalwarts Alexander Gustafsson and Glover Teixeira, and current light heavyweight champion Cormier.

And then the wheels fell off. 

It began with an announcement on January 6, 2015, three days after Jones’ win over Cormier in their first bout at UFC 182. It was revealed that Jones tested positive for cocaine metabolites in an out-of-competition test administered on Dec. 3, 2014. Jones was allowed to compete because he passed another drug test later in the month. He was, however, fined $25,000 for violating the UFC’s Athlete Code of Conduct policy.

Three months later Jones was involved in a hit-and-run accident where witnesses saw the fighter flee the scene, return to grab possessions from his damaged rental car, and disappear again. Albuquerque police issued a warrant for his arrest on the morning of April 28, 2016 — the day after the incident — and Jones turned himself in that evening before being released on $2,500 bail.

He was forced to vacate his light heavyweight title and suspended indefinitely by the UFC.

Five months later Jones pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was sentenced to 18 months’ probation and was to make 72 appearances speaking to youth and doing charity work.

"With regards to today's decision made by the court, I am very happy to now be able to put this incident behind me. My actions have caused pain and inconvenience in the lives of others and for that I am truly sorry and I accept full responsibility,” Jones said in a statement after the ruling. “I have been working hard during this time away from my sport to grow and mature as a man and to ensure that nothing like this happens again. I have learned a great deal from this situation and I am determined to emerge a better person because of it.”

“I apologize to those who were affected by my actions in this incident and I am hopeful that I will be given the opportunity to redeem myself in the eyes of the public, my family and friends as well as my supporters. I am not sure what the future holds for me but I plan to continue to do the work needed to be productive and successful in every aspect of my life.”

He was reinstated by the UFC at the end of October 2015 and was scheduled to return at UFC 197 in April 2016 for the long-awaited rematch with Cormier - now the 205-pound champion.

Cormier went down with a foot injury and Jones defeated Ovince Saint Preux for the interim light heavyweight title in his return to the octagon.

Fate would align their stars once more as the Conor McGregor-Nate Diaz main event rematch was pulled from UFC 200 with plenty of time for Cormier to heal up and Jones to be ready for a short, but manageable turnaround.

And then Wednesday happened.

The UFC 200 pre-fight news conference was over; a heated standoff between the light heavyweights was done. The two would weigh-in and square off once more the night before bringing the house down at the marquee event.

UFC president Dana White was having dinner when he got the call.

“I must have jinxed myself because I was like, ‘Everything is going so smooth … and nobody had been hurt,” White said at a press conference after the announcement was made. “It’s super, super disappointing. It was a brutal phone call.”

Losing Jones vs. Cormier as the main event isn’t as bad as it could’ve been, White admitted. With Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt ready to fill the main-event void, two other title fights and a slew of high-profile matchups filling up the night, there will be plenty to see at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

But this isn’t about losing a fight. It’s about losing a star. It’s about losing one of the greatest competitors and most accomplished athletes in all professional sports. 

Jones has a lot of work to do over the next while with potential appeals and the possibility of a lengthy suspension. He could face two years on the sidelines before he’s able to fight again.

His rise and fall is one of the fastest and hardest in the history of sports and the legacy he built at such a young age might be too broken to repair. Even if a suspension does happen and fight fans don’t see Jones until he’s at least 30, will it even matter?

To Jones it will.

“This too shall pass,” he said at the presser Thursday. “This story isn’t over.”