Well, it appears its that time of the year again. Jon Jones has been caught doing something that could potentially ruin his career. We all know this story, we've seen it before. Regardless of the outcome of the current potential USADA violation, I think most can agree that Jon Jones has been wasting his talent for a while now (clearly since January 2015). It will be interesting to see if this is the final fuck up that will really cost Jones his legacy. With Jon Jones fresh in our minds, lets take a look at some of the biggest wastes of talent in combat sports history.

Ike Ibeabuchi - Ike was 20-0 and had the skills to outbox monster punchers like a prime David Tua and the knockout power to KO great defensive boxers like Chris Byrd. Ike was viewed by many as a future heavyweight champion who had the skills and excitement to be a star in the sport. But there was always rumblings that he was a bit off. He made everyone in his camp refer to him as "Mr. President" and wanted everyone else to call him that as well. It was rumored that he had pulled a knife on HBO execs during a contract negotiation and had turned down huge sums of money against easy opponents. The writing should have been on the wall when Ibeabuchi kidnapped his ex girlfriends son and crashed his car with the child in the car with him. The courts ruled Ibeabuchi was attempting to commit suicide and he received several months in prison. He got out of prison, beat Chris Byrd and then assaulted an escort in Las Vegas. He claimed insanity and was placed in a ward for over 2 years, before being deemed fit to stand trial. He was sentenced to a long prison term and his chances of being a heavyweight champion vanished forever. He was released from prison in 2015 and deported from the US back to Nigeria in 2016.

Paulo Filho - Filho was an impressive middleweight who had worked up a 15-0 record with wins over Kaz Misaki, Murilo Rua, Ryo Chosen, Chael Sonnen and Joe Doerksen. He had made it to the finals of Pride's GP before pulling out with an injuy, he then went to WEC and won their title from Doerksen. He submitted Chael Sonnen in a somewhat controversial victory (Sonnen screamed bloody murder but never tapped) so a rematch between the two was put together. In between the first and second fight it was rumored Filho went to rehab and Filho stated he had an addiction to pain killers. Many had never known anything had been wrong with Filho until the rematch with Sonnen. Fillho missed weight before the fight, forfeiting his title and then In one of the weirdest fights ever, Filho walked around the cage clearly in a bizarre state of mind. He seemed to be looking at things that were not there and was clearly disoriented. It was as if he could see a ghost in the cage that no one else could see. Filho lost the fight and his career pretty much derailed from that point. Whether it was mental problems or drug problems, Paulo Filho never lived up to his potential and ended up wasting the prime of his career in and out of rehabs in between missing weight for many of his fights.

Riddick Bowe - How can a heavyweight champion and one of the best fighters of the decade be a waste of talent? Well, in Bowes case, by eating yourself out of your prime. Bowe was 38-1 throughout the prime of his career (before Golota fights) and his Hall of Fame trainer Eddie Futch claimed Bowe could be the best heavyweight he ever trained. That was saying a lot considering Futch had trained Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and Larry Holmes. Bowe won the undisputed heavyweight title by beating Evander Holyfield, he then went on a world tour and built a 14 million dollar house with a second kitchen in his bedroom. They say Bowe wasn't a smoker, drinker, gambler or womanizer. He liked to eat. He would balloon up to nearly 300 pounds and then cut weight back down to 220-230 area. He basically was doing extreme yo-yo dieting and by the time he was 28, he was a shot fighter. He lost his title to Evander in the controversial "Fan Man" rematch and then won the rubber match. However Bowe was clearly past his prime in his next fight against Andrew Golota. I think wars with Holyfield played a part, I wouldn't be surprised if Bowe has CTE, because his personality seemed to change and he did very odd things later in his career. For instance he joined the Marines for about 2 weeks before attaining a discharge, he then kidnapped his children and received a long prison sentence for this. His speech has clearly slurred, despite this he began boxing again when he was released from prison before finally retiring several years ago. He retired with a 43-1 record and could have possibly gone down as one of the greatest ever.

Tyson Fury - Fury pulled off a huge upset, beating Wladimir Klitschko to become the undisputed heavyweight Champion. He was 28-0 and looked to be the future of the division. Then he went off his fucking rocker. Whether it was drugs, bipolar disorder, or a combination, Fury basically made racist and homophobic comments about everyone not belonging to his immediate family, gained a ton of weight, failed multiple drug tests and has been missing in action since putting on a clinic against Wladimir Klitschko. He is easy to hate because of the hateful things he says, but it is undeniable the Fury is wasting his talent and may have wasted it for good.

Lee Murray - The school yard legend from the early MMA days (not NHB). Murray was a UK drug dealer/ street tough who had amassed a nice 8-2-1 record in MMA, including an impressive victory over Pele. However he was mostly known for a rumor that he knocked out Tito Ortiz in a street fight when Ortiz was the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Pat Miletich and Matt Hughes have claimed it happened while Chuck Liddell and Ortiz have claimed it didn't. Murray fought one time in the UFC defeating Jorge Rivera before having visa issues due to him facing criminal charges in the UK. Murray also fought future legend Anderson Silva to a decision loss for the Cage Rage title in his last MMA fight. Murray's career came to an end when he was stabbed in the lung during a street fight, several years after this happened he was arrested and imprisoned for being involved in a 52 million pound heist in the UK. He is currently serving his prison sentence in Morocco.

Tony Ayala Jr - The cautionary tale of the boxing world for nearly 30 years. 19 year old Ayala Jr had amassed a 22-0 (19 KO) record in only 2 years of boxing. Boxing historian Michael Katz was calling him the greatest prospect ever. Angelo Dundee, Muhammad Ali's trainer, said the kid was the future of boxing. Sugar Ray Leonard was saying he had the skills to go down with the all time greats. Problem was, Tony Ayala Jr was a real piece of shit. by the time he was 19 he had already amassed 2 convictions for assaulting women. He sexually assaulted and beat one women so bad, he broke her back. This was all before his 18th birthday and before turning professional. Because of this he was on probation. By 1982, Ayala Jr was 22-0 and had earned a title shot against Davey Moore. Most people would be training for their title fight if they were in Ayala's shoes. Instead he got drunk and high, broke into his neighbors house and brutally beat and raped her. The book was thrown at Tony Ayala Jr, as it should have been, and he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He was released in 1999 and began boxing again only to go back to prison in 2004. He was released and died of drug overdose in 2015.

Frank Shamrock - Unlike most on this list, Frank Shamrock is not responsible for his talent being wasted. He simply came about at a time when it was nearly impossible for the sport to survive. From September 1997 to March 1999 Frank went 8-0 defeating the likes of Enson Inoue, Tito Ortiz, Igor Zinoviev, Kevin Jackson and Jeremy Horn. The UFC actually couldn't afford to pay his contract by 1999 with the UFC being driven off PPV (their original source of income) and out of nearly every state in the US. The UFC agreed to release Frank Shamrock if he would "retire" in order for the company to save face. When Frank retired in 1999 he was arguably the best fighter in the world. From September 1999 to February 2003 Frank Shamrock fought 1 time. Its hard to imagine how long Shamrocks prime would have lasted, but it is clear, MMA fans really missed out on one of the best fighters of all times prime. The fact that it was largely due to the sport being nearly killed by politicians and not through any fault of Frank Shamrocks is even more maddening. Simply put, Shamrock did not seem interested in fighting the best fighters in the world for peanuts and you can't blame him.

Edwin Valero - The Venezuelan with a killer left hand amassed a 27-0 (27 KO) record by mainly fighting outside of the states. Because of a motorcycle accident early in his career that left his skull fractured, Valero could not pass medical exams in Nevada or New York, don't worry of course Texas licensed him. Because of this I actually got to watch him fight live against one of his tougher opponents (Pitalua was 47-3 and on the slide when I saw Valero KO him inside of 6 minutes). Valero managed to win titles in 2 divisions while knocking out all opposition. Many thought he would be the man to derail the Manny Pacquiao hype train and boxing fans salivated over the potential match between the two monster punchers. However like some other fighters on this list, dark rumors followed Valero. It was known in boxing circles that he was a wife beater. His wife was often going to the Venezuelan hospitals complaining of falls down stairs, to the point that the Venezuelan police actually investigated their boxing superstar due to their suspicions. Valero was cleared of beating his wife when his wife covered for him in March of 2010. Valero murdered his wife the next month in April of 2010. He was taken to prison that day and hung himself in his prison cell the next morning.

Jon Jones - While Jon Jones has long been considered for the GOAT discussion, his most recent USADA violation will probably really damage his legacy. Whether of not that happens, his previous transgressions have led to Jones wasting an enormous amount of his talent. It is actually pretty telling that Jon Jones lone loss on his record was because he did not follow the rules. Regardless if it is a stupid rule or not, Jones couldn't follow them and lost his 0 because of it. Outside the cage Jon has had an even harder time following the rules. He has done cocaine, gotten DWI's and done a hit and run on a pregnant woman. Because of countless fuck ups, Jones fought 1 time from February 2015 to June 2017. It looks like he will be facing a long suspension for his most recent USADA violation and it may be safe to say that the book has closed on Jon Jones' prime. He has nobody to blame but himself and a dark cloud will always hover over his legacy because of poor life choices.

Laszlo Papp - Laszlo Papp was the first boxer to win 3 Olympic Gold Medals, he did so in 1948, 1952 and 1956. In his 1956 gold medal match he beat future Light Heavyweight Champion and Hall of Famer Jose Torres. In his 13 olympic boxing bouts, he lost 1 round. He was a great boxer who had very brittle hands when he turned pro in 1957. He began working his way up the middleweight ranks beating top fighters like future champion Tiger Jones. Unfortunately Papp's Hungarian Communist leadership attempted to end Papps pro boxing career, Papp fought abroad to avoid ending his career. Papp earned his title shot before returning home to Hungary, upon returning Hungary refused to grant Papp an exit visa, ending Papps career. Papp retired with a pro record of 27-0-2.

Teleofilio Stevenson and Felix Savon - Much like Papp, Stevenson and Savon both won 3 consecutive gold medals at the Olympics. Stevenson is often considered the greatest amateur of all time because of the amount of top heavyweights he defeated in the amateurs. Savon was not as highly touted as Stevenson but he was a top amateur in the 90's. Both men hailed from Cuba and because of this, could not box professionaly under the Castro regime. A potential Stevenson - Ali fight has long been considered one of the great "what if's" in boxing history. Savon could have been another top heavyweght prospect in the good 90's era. Unfortunately we never got to see either turn pro and neither fighter was allowed to reap the rewards of their amazing boxing talent. Stevenson later stated in an interview that he sold one of his gold medals in order to provide food for his family, during this time, he was considered one of the best boxers in the world.

Mike Tyson - before you all come at me with pitch forks, hear me out. Tyson won his first title in 1986 and won the legit heavyweight title in 1988 when he beat Michael Spinks. Immediately after this, he parted ways with Kevin Rooney, his influential trainer. Aaron Snowell was brought in as Tysons trainer and Tysons marriage to Robin Givens quickly fell apart. Still you couldn't tell a fall was coming for Mike. He destroyed Carl "the Truth" Williams in 1 round before facing Buster Douglas. That being said, Tyson was noticeably becoming more of a head hunter, avoiding using his head movement as often as he used to and his glorified body attack was vastly becoming non existent. After Douglas beat Tyson, Tyson looked more human than god in a pair of fights with Razor Ruddock. Then Tyson was convicted of rape and went to jail for over 3 years. When he came out of jail he was never really the same imo. He had really lost his timing, Even in the McNeeley fight, you can see Tyson missing a lot of shots and stumbling around from being off balance. Tyson never really was in his prime after around 1988 and when he came back from his prison sentence he was even more of a shell of himself. He was basically a glorified head hunter by then, with little head movement, barely no body attack and his timing was way off. Its hard to know how good Tyson could have been (I don't rank him as a top 10 heavyweight all time) if he had stayed with Kevin Rooney and never gone to jail but I think its fair to say Mike wasted his talent.

Johnny Bumphus - Johnny Bumphus was one of the top amateur boxers of all time, he compiled an impressive 341 - 16 record but was apart of the 1980 Olympic boxing team (one of the greatest teams ever on paper) that did not get to compete in the 1980 Olympics because of the US boycott. Upon turning pro Bumphus was a can't miss prospect at 140, he had good power, slick boxing and good defense. The knock on Johnny Bumphus, was that he liked to party and he really liked cocaine. How much? well his nickname was "Bump City" if that gives you any idea. He worked his way to 22-0 record and a portion of the Jr Welterweight (140) title before losing in a shocking upset to Gene Hatcher. The loss sparked a brawl after the fight with Bumphus going losing it and taking swings at Hatcher. Bumphus would later lose in a title fight to Lloyd Honeyghan, being KOd early in the fight. He had a chance to be a really special fighter but by then everyone knew drugs had really ruined a lot of his potential. Bumphus retired after the Honeyghan loss and suffered from crack and cocaine addiction for over a decade after retiring.