Jon Jones is about as close to an unstoppable fighter as UFC has ever seen – a rare talent gifted with size, speed and a supernatural reach, winning was almost too easy for him. Which is part of the reason why he turned to drugs and alcohol. If anyone was going to beat the man known as Bones, it was going to be him.

In 2011, he became the youngest champion in UFC history, though with each successful title defense, he says he was slipping further into a haze of liquor and marijuana. Last year, his hard-living ways finally caught up with him, as he was involved in a hit-and-run accident that nearly sent him to jail…and forced UFC to strip him of his Light Heavyweight crown.

Now, with his legal problems (mostly) behind him, Jones is training for his return to the Octagon at UFC 197, where he'll fight Oliver Saint Preux for the interim title. But as Rolling Stone learned when he invited us to his camp at Jackson-Wink MMA, Bones is actually fighting for much more than a championship. He's fighting for his life.