3 reasons why Jon Jones can never be MMA's GOAT
Early February will see the return of one of the UFC’s biggest superstars, as Jon Jones will attempt to defend his Light-Heavyweight title against young challenger Dominick Reyes in the main event of UFC 247. With a win, Jones would have 11 successful title defenses to his name, and most likely, some fans would be happy to call him the greatest fighter of all time, if they don’t already.
But is that really the case? Is ‘Bones’ really worthy of being considered MMA’s ‘GOAT’? Or are there simply too many negatives counting against him when it comes to comparing him to the likes of Georges St. Pierre and Fedor Emelianenko?
Here are 3 reasons why Jon Jones can never be considered MMA’s ‘GOAT’.
#1 His positive drug tests
Naturally, the biggest negative against Jon Jones being considered the greatest MMA fighter of all time is the fact that unlike his competitors for that title, he’s tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Worse still, ‘Bones’ has actually tested positive on two separate occasions, and that isn’t even taking into account his positive test for cocaine – considered a recreational rather than performance enhancing drug – in 2015.
Jones first tested positive during the build to a planned Light-Heavyweight title fight with Daniel Cormier at UFC 200, popping for two banned substances – clomiphene and letrozole. The fight was subsequently scrapped, and ‘Bones’ was suspended for a year.
By the summer of 2017, Jones was back from his suspension, and the fight with Cormier went ahead, with Jones regaining his title after a third round TKO victory. Just weeks later though, the result was overturned when Jones tested positive for another banned substance – this time, the anabolic steroid turinabol.
‘Bones’ was suspended for 30 months for the infraction, but even after returning, he hasn’t been squeaky clean – a pre-fight drug test prior to his comeback fight at UFC 232 saw him again test positive for turinabol, but due to the amount in his system reportedly being minuscule, he was allowed to fight.
Detractors might point to the fact that drug testing was less stringent in the time when Fedor Emelianenko and Georges St. Pierre – two other fighters often considered to be the ‘GOAT’ - were competing, but the fact is that neither man ever tested positive.
As for Anderson Silva, the same knock could be used against him, as he tested positive for banned substances twice – but in his defense, both positive tests came when he was far past his prime, and don’t hang over his legacy like they do with Jones.
So how can anyone who’s tested positive for performance enhancers so many times be considered the greatest? The short answer is that they can’t.