I completely disagree. He had a good Pride run, then came and took an L against Forrest, but ok. He was coming off an injury if I remember correct. But was arguably losing to an old Mark Coleman until Mark completely gassed. (Thats the way I remember it anyway, but admittedly, have never rewatched it.) He beat a Chuck whos chin was already gone. That was actually the fight we all knew for sure that Chucks chin was completely gone. And we was right because look at the fight right after with Rich Franklin. Rich Koed him with a broken arm.
I do agree with you that he beat Machida in that first fight. And while some have called that fight boring. I remember in the moment, it being very exciting. A true chess match with both fighters letting their skills shine. And then of course he KOed Machida in the rematch.
Now is where you claim that without Jones, he would have put together a few title defenses. But it would have just been 1 defense against Forrest. That same year he lost to Henderson in one of my favorite fights of all time. So he would have lost his belt after just 1 defense. Then, the very next year he loses to Gus, and then 6 months after that he taps to Sonnen. He was only like 30 at the time. Then he gets 1 meaningless win before losing to Henderson again. Then loses to OSP. Both of those were KO/TKO. His best run was basically from 2005 to 2007. Thats only a 2 year run. Granted there are alot of fights in those 2 years. But 2005 is when he beat Rampage. Everyone before him after the Sobral loss was extreme cans with losing records. The only competition he faced before Rampage was Cyborg and Babalu, He beat Cyborg and lost to Babalu. So his run really starts in 05 and he fought Forrest in 07. Thats ignoring the freak arm break against Coleman. But his biggest run was 2 years. And then traded wins and losses. Never really putting together another run quite the same. Sure he won the belt. And did so in fashion against top competition. But the UFC wanted to give him a title shot when he came in. And had he beat Forrest, they probably would have. Knowing alot of Pride fans would want to see it. So he beat a Liddell who was coming off a loss and never won again, and im pretty sure, an unranked at the time Mark Coleman to get his title shot. And then gifted the rematch when he loss. Not saying I didnt agree with the rematch because I did. Im just saying I never considered him in conversation of the GOATs. And Jones didnt really stand in his way. Without Jones, he still loses to half the division.