Jon Jones is still ready to respond when anyone says anything about his GOAT status, especially the other fighters who start nipping at his heels.
Jones is widely regarded as MMA’s greatest of all time. 28-1 record, the way one loss came from kicking someone’s ass, 18 finishes, most UFC title wins (17), youngest UFC champion of all time and held the UFC light heavyweight belt longer than anyone else.
But he also has a number of bad records. Most UFC titles were stripped (3) or vacated (2). Most positive drug tests: for cocaine in 2014, for clomiphene and letrozole In 2016, for Turinabol in 2017, and since then the pulsating effect of Turinabol has been tested several times. This makes him an unpopular choice for the Goat in some people’s minds, including another GOAT candidate, Islam Makhachov.
“I don’t deny that Jon Jones is one of the greatest athletes in history,” Makhachov said in a recent interview. “But he got busted twice and I think that’s why his streak doesn’t count. Because he went to a fight on PEDs and won. That’s where the countdown should have started. But still, he’s one of the greatest. Maybe even the greatest.”
Even that compliment sandwich wasn’t enough to keep Jones from taking to social media to bash Makhachov.
“Let’s start this week dispelling rumors spread by people who are stalking me,” Jones tweeted. “1. If you believe USADA for finding a picogram in my system, then you have to believe USADA when they say, ‘It was not found to be PERFORMANCE ENHANCING or INTENTIONAL.’ You can’t have it both ways.”
“2. Last time I checked, my hand went up every time I was in the octagon as any of you remember. 3. Your own trainer said I was a ‘gift from God’. 4. Let’s not forget you’ve been hit, flat lined, at night. 5. DC I kicked you in the head LOL, keep telling yourself it was a steroid.”
“Whatever you need to say to get a better night’s sleep, do it,” Jones concluded. “Keep going, it’s lonely at the top, Islam hope to see you up here someday.”
Jones always skips the clomiphene test failure (and the time he hid under a cage to avoid drug testers) and brings up picograms of Turinabol in his system. Yes, Jones now has strange picograms of Turinabol popping up regularly in drug tests which USADA and DFSI consider from past use. Jones was suspended in 2017 for using it and will no longer be punished for it. It doesn’t erase the fact that he somehow managed to permanently contaminate his body with Turinabol. And clomiphene.
Makhachev did not touch it, but clapped back.
“Jon, I’m not trying to diminish your achievements in any way,” the Dagestan fighter wrote. “But your whole life seems to be about breaking the rules in one way or another, and somehow you can never take the blame.”