Gustafsson: I believe Jones was on PEDs before our fight

Alexander Gustafsson was the first person to make Jon Jones look human. It was on September 21, 2013 at UFC 165. Jones had to dig deep to earn a unanimous decision. After his latest win, Gustafsson expressed respect for Jones’ skills as a fighter, but disdain for his character. Jones replied with a series of angry tweets. During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Gus doubled down.

I stand by it, he said, as transcribed by Chuck Mindenhall for MMA Fighting. The thing is, they had a press conference after the fight and they asked me about Jon Jones and I told them the way I feel. I just told them the truth. I’m not a trash talker. I don’t trash talk, I don’t do that sh*t. But they asked me and I’m not going to lie. I just felt like, he’s probably the greatest fighter we’ve seen. But as a person, I don’t like him.

I don’t like how he’s talking on the stage, doing the cocaine thing, with so many young people, kids and everything, looking up to him. I just feel like, man, come on. I don’t support that stuff at all. So I just told the media what I think of him.

He’s been getting caught for everything, it feels like one thing after the other, but the way he was sitting on the stage with DC and he just said he did cocaine a week before he fought him. He’s not even embarrassed telling that stuff, he’s just proud telling that stuff. For me it’s just, you don’t do that, come on — not being such a good fighter.

And he’s been doing so good, nobody’s been able to compete with him. He’s been pound-for-pound the best guy, and I believe he is. He hasn’t lost. He hasn’t lost yet to nobody. So that’s just how I feel.

I just know he was in shape for that fight, and I was in shape for that fight, and in many eyes, people believe I won that fight. And this may be one of his excuses. He didn’t dominate me like he’s been dominating everybody else. It was a tight fight, but I just think that was one of his excuses that maybe he didn’t finish me or he didn’t dominate me, or didn’t win every round. So, that’s just the way he talks.

Gustafsson was asked if he thought Jones was on PEDs before their fight.

I believe so, I believe so, he said. I think he’s been doing a lot of stuff that he shouldn’t be doing. It’s tragic to say, but I believe he’s been doing s*** he shouldn’t for a long time.

Jones looked human in his last fight, a unanimous decision over Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197 last year. OPS was 1-1 before the fight, and lost two in a row after it. Prior to the fight Jones showed a noticeably improved physique on his social network, that he attributed to power lifting. Others had a less flattering, more chemical explanation.

Well, you know, he hadn’t been in the cage for a long time when he fought him, said Gustafsson. I don’t know. I don’t know if he was on it or not for that fight, but I believe he was when we fought and stuff like that. But anyway, it’s history now and new times are coming, and we probably will fight again some day.