Jon Jones has been regarded as the GOAT of MMA for years now. He has proven to be unbeatable over the years, beating a slew of Hall of Famers. He’s gone on an impeccable championship run in which he has never be beaten (his one loss is a BS disqualification). After failing a drug test for the third time in four fights, is he still the greatest? I say no.
Jon Jones beat Daniel Cormier for the second time in July, and everyone thought he made his great comeback after his drug problems. Afterwards he was popped for PEDs. It was like a bad joke when my friend called me to tell me Jon failed the test.
“Shut the f*** up, that didn’t happen”
Only it did happen. The worst possible case scenario for everyone involved. The UFC getting their second biggest star back, forget about it. Jones going up to heavyweight to try to be a two weight champ, forget about it. Fighting Brock Lesnar in an absolute super fight, forget about it. Jon Jones is the most talented fighter in the history of MMA, and he threw it all away.
USADA is the new drug testing system that UFC has, and it’s the best in all of sports. Since taking over the UFC, it has ended the steroid era of fighting. Yeah, some people will still always get caught, and from the outside fan, it may seem like everyone is on it. Real MMA fans know it is not like that anymore.
That being said, since USADA has taken over Jones has had four fights. He has been popped on three of them. The one fight he was not popped on was against Ovince Saint Preux which was his first fight back after being stripped of his title. It was universally agreed that it was the worst he has ever looked in a fight.
Give me a second to think this out. I was always bad at math. If he fought four times and was popped after three then that leaves one. In that one he looked sluggish and fought like garbage? Hmmmmmm……You’re suspect!
In my opinion, it’s hard to think Jones has not been using PEDs his whole career. Especially considering the fact that his older brother was popped for PEDs in the NFL. There seems to be a lot stacked up against any argument Jones can make. How can we consider you the GOAT if we have reason to think your entire career is tainted? It was so upsetting to hear the news about Jones after that fight with Cormier. Imagine how Cormier feels.
Daniel Cormier has only lost two fights in his career, both fights have been to Jon Jones. He fought back his whole career to win the belt when Jon was away and to make sure he never lost it. When Jon came back he would get another shot at him. He got that shot, and it seemed he was taking advantage of that shot. He was fighting great in the rematch throughout the first two rounds, maybe even up 2-0 in some peoples minds. Then in the third round, Jones came out with a lot of energy and kicked Cormier in the head and pounded him out until the fight was over. Imagine finding out he popped and maybe the reason he was able to throw that kick was because he had something extra behind it. That would be hard to deal with.
The counter argument to what I am saying about Jones losing his GOAT status is that everyone in the old era was on steroids. Anderson Silva was popped before, and GSP was always rumored to be and retired right before USADA took over. Those would be my two greatest fighters ever. What I say to that is: I cannot hold using PEDs when everyone was using them against them, especially when the testing was not there. Jones surpassed Anderson Silva as the GOAT a few years back now on nearly everyone’s list. Now, everything has to be looked at differently. I think Anderson is still the GOAT now with GSP behind him.
I heard Jon’s suspension could be between 2-4 years. Some people think he may never fight again or at least fight in the UFC ever again. The commission could give him a life-time ban, but it’s very unlikely.
I would really like to know what else people think about Jon Jones now. He kept a lot of fans throughout his drug problems and being stripped of his title. I wonder if they would still cheer him?
Let me know what you think of Jones now, I want to hear from MMA fans on the matter.