Jon Jones' MMA P4P legacy will have the same fate as Lance Armstrong's claims coach Javier Mendez
Javier Mendez, the coach of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, recently compared Jon Jones' status as the greatest of all time to that of disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong. Mendez is of the opinion that Jones' legacy is tarnished by his past doping violations, and argued that the UFC is overlooking this fact in their push to promote him as the GOAT.
While Jones has undoubtedly achieved great success in MMA, his career has been marred by controversies. Mendez suggested that these transgressions should disqualify him from being considered the greatest of all time, just as Armstrong's doping offenses led to the removal of his Tour de France victories.
Speaking on his own podcast, The Javier Mendez Podcast, he said:
“Dana is still insisting that Jon Jones is pound-for-pound #1. He has his valid points, but my valid point is I just want to say one thing: Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France how many times, and basically, he got all those titles taken away from him because of one thing—doping.'
He went on to add:
"And even though it was many years later that they caught him, he lost all the Tour de France titles. Well, it’s been a fact, it’s been proven, Jon Jones has been caught doping. So, I’m sorry, I think that disqualifies him just based on that alone.”[H/t: MMA Mania]
Check out Javier Mendez's comments below (10:46):
When Jon Jones responded to PED accusations made against him
In a recent social media post, Jon Jones dismissed allegations of PED use and claimed that he worked hard to prove his innocence. He went on to add that the PEDs in question are now legal in MMA. Jones also took a jab at his critics, suggesting that they will eventually regret laughing at him. His tweet read:
"Yep, worked my a** to prove my innocence. Now picograms are legal in our sport. Honestly, none of that will matter a few years from now when I'm covering my kids' tuition. You guys still laughing about what happened at the office, I'm outside on a golf cart."
Check out Jon Jones' post below: