10 Huge UFC Stars Who Could Return In 2017

The suspended ex-champ will fight again, but against who?

Jon Jones is pretty much the epitome of extreme talent being wasted due to poor judgement. The most gifted fighter of his generation, Jones soared to the top, defeating legend after legend, champ after champ. Then, while still hitting his prime, cracks began to show. There were DUIs, embarrassing social media scandals, a hit and run incident that saw him stripped of his title, a comeback where he won an interim belt, then another big scandal - a failed drug test that saw him stripped of his second championship belt.

That's a UFC first, for anyone keeping track of such things.

Yet Jones will return. He's not even thirty, and has a solid five years of fighting at a high level ahead of him if he sees fit. On the flip side, he no longer has the excuse of youth, and he has wasted an awful lot of his prime due to his own stupidity.

Dana White has claimed he'll never let Jones headline a UFC event again, but don't believe that lie. That's Dana being Dana. Fact is, while Jones wasn't as big as Ronda Rousey or Brock Lesnar at the box office, he was still big enough. No way does WME-IMG turn down the money he'd bring in for his return fight. His return fight will sell whatever card he is on, period. It should be against either Daniel Cormier, who has been champ in Jones absence, and who Jones has a win over, or Anthony Johnson, who will fight Cormier in April.

Given the April title fight, and Jones being suspended until July, the soonest you'll probably see him back is September, unless the UFC really rushes things. He will be back, however, just when the UFC really needs him.