UFC coach references Lance Armstrong to discredit Jon Jones as GOAT

American Kickboxing Academy head coach Javier Mendez believes Jon Jones’ previous failed drug checks eradicate him from the best of all time debate.

UFC CEO Dana White has been stumping arduous for heavyweight champion Jones, chastising media for rating him No. 3 within the pound-for-pound standings behind mild heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and Mendez-trained light-weight champ Islam Makhachev, who’s No. 1.

However Mendez argues that based mostly on Jones’ historical past with failed checks linked to performance-enhancing medication, he shouldn’t be thought of the best fighter of all time.

“Dana continues to be insisting that Jon Jones is pound-for-pound No. 1,” Mendez stated on his “Javier Mendez Podcast.” “He has his legitimate factors, however my legitimate level is I simply say one factor: Lance Armstrong.

Lance Armstrong received the Tour de France what number of occasions? And principally he received all these titles taken away from him due to one factor: doping. And regardless that it was a few years later that they caught him, he misplaced all his Tour de France (titles). Nicely, it’s been a reality, it’s been confirmed Jon Jones has been caught doping. So, I’m sorry, I feel that disqualifies him simply based mostly on that alone.”

Jones’ second win over Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 was overturned to a no contest when he examined optimistic for the anabolic steroid turinabol. His sentence was considerably decreased from 4 years to a 15-month sentence after he supplied “substantial help” to the U.S. Anti-Doping Company, which ran the UFC’s program on the time. Jones acknowledged he didn’t knowingly take any prohibited substances and that the substances he consumed have been tainted.

Jones failed a 3rd drug take a look at previous to his UFC 232 rematch with Alexander Gustafsson when he examined optimistic for a similar turinabol metabolites. Nonetheless, USADA decided they have been hint quantities within the type of picograms incapable of giving Jones a aggressive benefit. He defeated Gustafsson within the UFC 232 headliner to reclaim the vacant mild heavyweight title.

Mendez additionally disagrees with White calling Jones the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter.

“He could be in an enormous consideration, however he hasn’t fought since (2023),” Mendez stated. “So, I don’t know how one can put him in that class due to what he did earlier than. He’s not energetic. If he was energetic, then there’s a much bigger problem for that, however he’s not energetic.

“His talents? Yeah, I can see that, one hundred pc. I imply, the man is among the biggest of all time, for positive. However for me, I worth the best of all time based mostly on what they do exterior, not simply what they do inside.”