Chael Sonnen doesn’t believe Jon Jones is out of the all-time great conversation due to past controversies with drug testing.
There’s no doubting that “Bones” is one of the most talented fighters to ever enter the MMA space. His lone defeat has been heavily disputed, as he was disqualified in his 2009 bout against Matt Hamill for using 12-6 elbows, which were illegal at the time. Many argued that referee Steve Mazzagatti should’ve stopped the fight well before Jones even landed the elbows.
Despite the blemish, Jones is widely considered to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time, but that’s if you don’t take his failed drug tests into account. “Bones” popped for Clomiphene and Letrozole ahead of a planned UFC 200 fight with Daniel Cormier. At the time, Jones denied intentionally using the banned substances, and he traced the flagged test back to sexual enhancement pills.
Jones then popped for turinabol, which led to his UFC 214 victory over Cormier being overturned. In a new video on his YouTube channel, Chael Sonnen said he can’t bring himself to penalize Jones in terms of GOAT talk due to the failed drug tests (via MMAJunkie).
“I think if you’re having the conversation of greatest of all time to exclude Jon Jones – I don’t know that Jon ever took anything that the rest of them didn’t take, but he got caught for it,” Sonnen said. “I’m going to have to go with no. My final analysis is no. Jon Jones failing a PED test makes him not the cleanest fighter of all time. It does not disqualify him from being the greatest fighter of all time.”
Jones’ fighting future is very much up in the air. The surefire future UFC Hall of Famer recently admitted that he has arthritis in his left hip. In a follow-up interview with Helen Yee during Super Bowl LX weekend, Jones said his pro MMA career could be over.
seems like a logical position for Chael to take.
Taking xanax and assaulting strangers in a hotel hallway does not mean you’re a bad person.
- Chael