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The whispers are growing louder.

Jon Jones picked off another top-flight challenger on Saturday, as he defeated Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision to retain the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight crown in the UFC 182 main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it 49-46 for the man they call “Bones.”

Since steamrolling Mauricio Rua to become the youngest champion in UFC history, Jones has beaten Cormier, Glover Teixeira, Alexander Gustafsson, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida and Quinton Jackson. His reign atop the 205-pound division now stands at three years, nine months and 15 days, forcing even his detractors to consider whether or not he has joined the Greatest-of-All-Time discussion.

Jones’ performance against Cormier spawned a number of intriguing threads on the Sherdog.net forums:

* BEST OF THE BEST

* LOSING SUPPORT

* AFTER THREE ...

* CHANNELING GSP

* JOKING MATTER