Daniel Cormier thinks it’s hard to consider the newly crowned UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones the greatest fighter of all time given his history of failed drug tests.
Jones made a perfect return to the Octagon after a three-year layoff to beat Ciryl Gane in the first round to win the heavyweight title at UFC 285. The New York native is being regarded as the undisputed GOAT of MMA after his most recent win by a vast majority, but Cormier still isn’t willing to give him that, given his history of failed drug tests.
In their rematch at UFC 214 in 2017, Jones stopped Cormier with a brutal head kick in the third round, but days later, he tested positive for turinabol metabolite and was subsequently stripped of his title with their fight ruled a no-contest.
Daniel Cormier on Jon Jones
Speaking on ESPN, Cormier said that although Jones is in the GOAT conversation, he’s not the undisputed king of MMA.
“I think it’s hard to really argue the greatest of all time when Jones has now gone up to heavyweight and won the championship because of what he did at light heavyweight,” Cormier said. “This always puts me in a tough position, because I will always say guys that have bad things attached to their name should not be held on high.
“I think especially with the drugs and the steroid failures and those types of things. I think when you have those things, it’s hard to call you the greatest of all time. And I know Anderson (Silva) and all those guys, but I think (Jones) is in the conversation, because he’s become a heavyweight champion, and now he’s won belts in two weight classes.”
In 2019, USADA updated its rules, according to which Jones’ prior samples wouldn’t have been flagged as illegal because they were under the current threshold of 0.1 Ng/ml for long-term metabolite in oral turinabol.
Do you agree with Daniel Cormier?
