DC: Giving Jones a pedestal is like glorifying Lance Armstrong
Daniel Cormier: “He doesn’t have a platform and I refuse to give him a platform. He’s a nobody. He has been suspended again. He’s mired in controversy for drug abuse.”
Disgraced former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was not impressed when one of the league social media accounts suggested that current champion Daniel Cormier should be in G.O.A.T. consideration with a win over heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 on July 7.
“I’m fighting these dudes at 39 years old and still getting my hand raised,” said Cormier in the clip. “So, yes, put me in the conversation.”
Does a win at #UFC226 earn @DC_MMA GOAT status? ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/DUPuz0tKyK
— UFC (@ufc) June 20, 2018
Jones reacted on Twitter.
what have you done for me lately? Let’s just be real and stop asking this question https://t.co/Tw3FcpH3bK
— BONY (@JonnyBones) June 20, 2018
If he’s in the conversation does that make me the motherfucking man? https://t.co/cEnNRayEus
— BONY (@JonnyBones) June 20, 2018
DC was asked for a response by combat sports writer Brian Campbell for CBSSports.
“None. He doesn’t have a platform and I refuse to give him a platform,” said Cormier. “He’s a nobody. He has been suspended again. He’s mired in controversy for drug abuse. Your issues are tied to steroids, performance enhancers. You don’t get a platform when you’re like that. It’s like me glorifying Lance Armstrong.”
“He won the [first] fight but, hey, since USADA has gotten involved with the UFC, he only fought one time. He has had four fights scheduled. So he fought Ovince and he fought me but that second one was a no contest. The Ovince fight was the only time he fought and there was no controversy surrounding it. So I’m pretty sure there was some dirty stuff going on [in our first fight]. That’s why the test results were all jacked up in December.”
“This whole Jon Jones thing has been marred in controversy and never on my behalf. So I can’t let that dictate how I approach my career in any way, shape or form. I didn’t do those bad things. I didn’t do steroids. I didn’t get taken out of a fight for steroid abuse once and test positive for steroids a second time. I didn’t get, before the first fight, having rinky-dinky tests to start. There are so many reasons why I shouldn’t be tied to him anymore and I’ve gotten back to the point now where it doesn’t affect me.”
There is a short list of potential candidates for greatest fighter of all time – Fedor Emelianenko, Dan Henderson, Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Anderson Silva. The list from the UFC perspective is shorter still – Johnson, Jones, GSP, and Silva.
Of the possible G.O.A.T.’s, there is only one about whom you might ask, how good could he have been if? That’s why Jones is probably the best fighter of all time. And why he isn’t.
Jones squandered his greatness by making the wrong life choices. His last three fights have each seen his title stripped. That doesn’t happen to G.O.A.T.s, unfortunately.
After defeating Daniel Cormier at UFC 182 on in 2015, Jones was stripped when he drove his rental into a car operated by a pregnant woman, then ran off on foot. He returned, not to check on the victim, but to stuff cash into his shorts, and run off again.
After defeating Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197 in 2016, Jones was stripped after he tested positive for clomiphene and letrozole. That apparently came from taking a contaminated, bootleg, erectile dysfunction drug.
After defeating Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 in 2017, Jones was stripped after testing positive for turinabol. The test failure was announced on August 22, 2017; the investigation has yet to determine the source of the failure. This latest debacle is baffling in that Jones knew he would be tested on fight day, July 28, tested clean on July 7, and should have known that Turinabol metabolites can be detected for 30-45 days.
In 2015, 2016, and 2017 Jones Jones did something bonkers and was stripped of a title. It’s 2018. If history is a guide, Jones will do it again by December 31. Or maybe his time is finally running out.
