Jon Jones' absence ?

Jon Jones' absence ?

Jon Jones being stripped of the UFC light-heavyweight championship creates opportunities for contenders just as it puts them in an unenviable position. On the one hand, Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson will fight for the official 205-pound world title May 23 in Las Vegas.

However, if Cormier becomes champion by beating "Rumble," many fans will focus on the fact that just one fight ago he was not able to beat Jones. If Johnson wins, he'll be champ, but he would have done so not by beating a defending title-holder, but simply another challenger like himself.

As such, the entire light-heavyweight division will remain in the shadow of its effectively undefeated, but deposed, champ Jon Jones until "Bones" comes back from his indefinite UFC suspension.

Of course, Cormier vs. Johnson is still an amazing fight.

So too would Cormier vs. Gustafsson be, or Ovince Saint Preux vs. Johnson or Ryan Bader vs. Cormier (what, afte rall, will be done with poor Bader, now?). As great as these fights will or could be, however, they will serve as teasers for Jones' come back.

That's not a bad thing. In fact, the UFC should be able to make the most of that, promotion wise, once Jones does come back.

After all, questions of rust (for Jones) and improvement (for contenders like Cormier) will be fascinating X-factors to consider once the 27-year-old makes his return to competition. For now, all we can do is guess wildly what will happen in Jones' absence.

One major reason for the speculation is that there really is no telling just how long Jones will be out. He currently faces serious criminal charges after a hit-and-run accident that left at least one driver -- a pregnant woman -- with a fractured wrist and arm

If convicted, it is hypothetically possible that Jones could receive prison time. That unlikely scenario is probably the only way Jones will have a very long lay-off from competition.

A few months of no bad news, contrition and a possible acquital of criminal charges or even conviction without prison time may go a long way toward looking like improvement and sufficient punishment, for Jones, to the UFC. So, don't be surprised if we see Jones fight again within a year.

If he does end up out of competition for long enough, however, the light-heavyweight division could very well move on. Take, for example, Dominick Cruz's unfortunate absence from the bantamweight division, due to injuries.

Since no fighter took Cruz's crown from him, for a while every other top fighter and bantamweight title fight seemed a bit diminished. After more than a year, and two new excellent champions, however, Cruz is still certainly missed. But no one is claiming that TJ Dillashaw or Renan Barao were anything less than full champions.

That division has moved on, and so too would light heavyweight, eventually. If that happens, there are many top fighters who are good enough to become champion.

However, none seem well-suited to be as dominant as Jones. For example, based on his 2013 performance against Jon Jones, Alexander Gustafsson could make an arugment to being the second-best fighter in the division.

With his wrestling skills and own solid fight against Jones, Cormier could arguably make the same claim. Heck, in many ways, Cormier could be viewed as a favorite against Johnson at UFC 187.



After all, Cormier has more championship-level experience than "Rumble," and may have the quickness, striking and takedown ability to take Johnson out of his comfort zone, on his feet. Johnson's striking power is an equalizer for him, however, as he showed against Gustafsson.

On paper, Gustafsson could have posessed the length, boxing and wrestling skills to hang with Johnson or beat him. In practice, he couldn't stay standing once the Blackzilian got his fists on him.

Perhaps the same will happen to Cormier. Johnson is hotter than anyone in the division and was the most dangerous person at light heavyweight, even with Jones available.

On any given night, Johnson has the ability to knock out anyone in the world and is extremely dangerous in the first and second rounds. That said, he's a brutally dangerous fighter, not a perfect one.

There are people in the division who could take Johnson down (Cormier, Gustafsson, maybe Bader) and there are many who may feel confident their conditioning and ground ability are superior to his. Johnson is most dangerous, but it remains to be seen how he'll do in the championship rounds against the best at 205.

In short, Johnson's one-punch knockout power gives him the opportunity to run the table until Jones returns. But we could also see guys like Cormier or even Gustafsson, once he has plenty of time to recover a bit, drowning him in deep water if they avoid his initial onslaught.

On the topic of unpredictability, there are others beyond the big three of Johnson, Cormier and Gustafsson who could get on a roll and possibly become champ. If Bader beats whomever the UFC gets to replace Cormier, and if Cormier wins the belt, we could forsee "Darth" being Cormier's first title-defense opponent.

While Cormier would have to be considered a solid favorite, Bader has improved a great deal in the past couple of years, beating top fighters like Phil Davis and Ovince Saint Preux during his current four-fight win streak with excellent takedown defense and offense, as well as big power-striking. You'd better believe that he felt he had a chance at beating Cormier when they were initially paired up.

That wouldn't change should Cormier become champ. Another long-shot future possible champ is Saint Preux.

In short, we're done underestimating the fighter out of Tennessee. He's won two straight by KO, and seven of his last eight overall.

The only man to beat OSP recently, in fact, is Bader. Saint Preux has a crazy-good ability to end fights with lightning-quick and thunder-powerful counter punches, as he proved violently to Patrick Cummins and former champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

More importantly, however, Saint Preux showed that he's become very hard to take and keep down. He got Cummins to rush in with punches only after he frustrated the wrestler with his takedown defense and ability to get up quickly.

With that type of improved grappling, and always dangerous one-punch KO power, Saint Preux could be two wins away from a title in the suddenly wide-open division.

Cr.Fox Sports