FS 80 – Butchering the GOAT (transcript) (Patreon)

When Khabib Nurmagomedov laid down his gloves in the middle of the octagon after his victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, many were quick to praise him. Not only was his performance dominant, but his record is perfect. He’s had 29 straight wins with only two (controversial) rounds lost in his entire career. To break that down even further, Nurmagomedov has had 13 fights in the UFC, and 38 rounds of competition. Even if he lost two of them on the judges' scorecards, it ultimately didn’t matter since he ended up finishing his opponents (McGregor and Gaethje, respectively). Many other fighters along with the MMA media  were ready to recognize Nurmagomedov as the pound for pound best, with a couple granting him the title of greatest of all time, or GOAT for short. 

One fighter that wasn’t as generous was Jon Jones. Not only did Jones insert himself into the conversation, but he also made a case for himself as the best fighter of all time. This discussion is odd, especially since no one seemed to have asked for it. But hey, since Jones seems like he wants to have this talk, let’s go ahead and dissect his legacy and take a closer look at his comments.

On Instagram, Jones specifically brought up his 15-world championship title wins to Nurmagomedov’s four title wins, as well as the level of competition that both have fought. To quote Jones, he said, "Fifteen world titles to your guys four and you are really talking about who is the best fighter ever? You guys are joking, right? Fifteen to four? Are you guys kidding me?” He ended the Instagram video by stating, “And if all you guys are going with, ‘he's more dominant argument’, the guy just recently started fighting elite-level competition. Could you imagine me against the No. 10 ranked guy?"

Jones brought up a simple math question, is 15 greater than 4? It certainly is, ask pro wrestler Scott Steiner.

However, it’s not an accurate assessment. Jones has had the light heavyweight title stripped twice, both after UFC 182 and UFC 197, and has also had a win overturned. Jones had his title win at UFC 214 changed to a No Contest after testing positive for turinabol, an anabolic–androgenic steroid. If you change the win at UFC 214 to a No-Contest, it becomes 14 title wins. Are we supposed to still count the wins at UFC 182 and UFC 197 if he was stripped of them a few months after? If so, that brings his total title wins down to 12. Still impressive, but not without its share of asterisks. The asterisks of course are his failed drug tests.

This always seems to be glossed over by Jones and his fans, but it’s not as if he had elevated levels of marijuana. Jones has tested positive for clomiphene, an anti-oestrogen substance, and letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, before his fight with Daniel Cormier at UFC 200. As mentioned earlier, his UFC 214 win was overshadowed by testing positive for turinabol. That makes three totally different substances that Jones has tested positive for, unrelated in chemical compositions at different periods. Despite pleading that all the instances were due to contaminated supplements, you have to ask at what point does this seem too coincidental? To date, no other champion in the UFC has been stripped MULTIPLE times for steroid offenses. The closest is Josh Barnett, but most of his failures came outside of the promotion and when he wasn’t champion. When it comes to actual title holders, Jones holds the distinction of being the only champion to have won a title, been stripped of it for steroids, won the title again in his next fight, and then got stripped the fight right after for another positive steroids test result. At least he holds the record for something.

The nature of his stripped titles raises an interesting question of how often he’s competed with performance-enhancing drugs (PED’s) in his system. The urban legend of Jones hiding under the cage at Jackson-Wink’s from the Nevada Athletic Commission officials was recently confirmed by Jones himself. Jones claims that he hid because he had just recently smoked weed, but it’s been proven that at the time of the surprise visit, they were only there to test for PEDs. The commission does not test for recreational drugs that far out from a fight, and someone of Jones’s experience should have known that. Even if you believe that the majority of fighters are on steroids, how many get caught at the championship level? We can only go off positive tests, and in that category, Jones is in a class of his own.

If you’re the type to think that the steroids shouldn’t disqualify him from GOAT talks since hey, “everybody is on steroids,” then consider the nature of Jones’s fighting style. Georges St. Pierre has greasing allegations, Henry Cejudo has been known to headbutt at times, and even Chuck Liddell has been accused of being less than careful with his fingers in opponents’ eyes. However, no other champion has been verbally warned as much as Jones when it comes to fouls. Let’s just look at his fights from his debut against Andre Gusmao to his title fight against Ovince Saint Preux. In that time, he’s committed a total of 19 fouls, 33 warnings, and a point deduction for his actions. This isn’t counting the point deductions for the illegal grounded knees against Anthony Smith or the eye pokes against Dominick Reyes. In eight years, Jones has racked up quite the record when it comes to illegal blows. He’s admitted in the documentary “The Hurt Business” that not only is he known for poking opponents in the eyes, but readily admits to doing it because it works. In the first Alexander Gustafsson fight alone, he was warned eight times (8!) to keep his fingers from extending. He never had points deducted for it, so why stop if he’s not being punished? Some want to praise Jones for his fight IQ and skills, but a good amount of it relies on either bending the rules or outright cheating. If any tactic you can throw at Jones can get thwarted by eye pokes, groin strikes, fence grabs, and headbutts, how successful can you get? And conversely, if your style relies on blinding your opponents and kicking them in the knees, how great are you, really?  

That brings us to the number of his title wins. After posting a 6-1 record in the promotion, Jones was offered a title fight against then-champion, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, on short notice. The fight was originally supposed to go to Rashad Evans, but he had suffered a knee injury during training camp. The win over Rua helped Jones become the youngest champion in the promotion, and since then all his fights have been championship fights. The sheer number of victories is impressive. But I’ll ask you this: if either Max Holloway or Khabib Nurmagomedov had gotten a title shot after their 6th win, what kind of championship reign would they have had? Granted, they may not have perfected their strengths by that time, but both these fighters had to essentially clear out a tougher division before getting a shot at the title. It’s well known by hardcore fans that the lower weight classes are stacked with more talent, and establishing any kind of winning streak is an incredible challenge. Tony Ferguson went 12-1 (and won 9 straight) before being granted an interim title shot. Charles Oliveira has finished seven fighters in a row and isn’t mentioned as a possible contender for the now vacant lightweight title. That’s how stacked these divisions are. But light heavyweight is such a mess that the current champion, Jan Błachowicz, is fighting the middleweight champion since there aren’t any real contenders in the mix. How did this happen? Wasn’t the 205-pound weight class one of the deepest in the sport?

At a point in time, it was. From 2003 to 2008, both the UFC and PRIDE focused on their 205-pound weight class. The UFC was focused on promoting Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, and Randy Couture. PRIDE’s grand prix tournaments for 205-pound fighters were the stuff of legends. The problem was that after this initial push, recruiting top talent for this weight class fell by the wayside. By the time Jon Jones was entering the division, many of it’s best fighters had their best days already behind them. He was far younger than the rest of the division. It’s not hating on his performances, look at his record. Of his 11 title defenses when he was already champion, five of them came against middleweights. I did some quick math on Jones’s opponents until the first Daniel Cormier fight, which Jones won but was subsequently stripped of a few months after. After Jones, his opponents collectively went on to win 46 fights but lose 41 of them, with two no contests. These aren’t exactly competitors that took the losses, rebuilt winning streaks, and challenged for the title again. Many of them moved weight classes, switched promotions, or were already on their way to retirement.

Jones’s recent performances don’t give him much leeway either. His fight against Anthony Smith showed that even though he’s winning a fight, he still cheats. After winning three straight rounds, Jones threw a knee to the head of Smith, who was grounded at the time. This was the second kick he threw at Smith when he was grounded, and the knee to the head was so bad that Dean deducted TWO points from Jones for an intentional illegal blow. Jones’s last two fights also show that his iron grip on the weight class might be slipping. Even though he’s still defensively savvy, his offensive output has dramatically fallen. Thiago Santos lost by a split decision that could have gone his way, and many fans still believe that Dominick Reyes should have been declared the winner after their fight at UFC 247. Are these the kinds of performance that a GOAT would display? Imagine if he had different refs, different judges, or an impartial third-party commission, what would his legacy be?

At the end of the day, the term GOAT itself is subjective and can vary from person to person. Jones might seem like a strong contender, but a closer examination of his PED scandals, cheating-heavy fighting style, and relative lack of depth in his weight class should bump him lower on the lists of any fan. If you took one negative aspect of Jones’s career and applied it to another member on the shortlist of GOAT, they would be lowered on the list or scratched altogether. If Demetrius Johnson had been busted for steroids multiple times, there’s no way people wouldn’t call his wins into question. If Khabib was known for fence grabbing and poking people in the eyes while going for takedowns, there would be an uproar about how he can’t win without bending the rules. If Georges St. Pierre had half of his title defenses against lightweights, people would question the depth of the 170-pound division. This isn’t to say that Jones was never good and should be wiped from the history books. He’s still accomplished a great deal in his career and has legitimate skills combined with physical gifts that made him a phenom. However, a more critical look at his career simply doesn’t grant him the title of GOAT. One of the best? Sure. Best light heavyweight? No complaints here. The greatest of all time? Save that talking point for the Sherdog forums.

At 33 years old, Jones can still find ways to add to his legacy, even though he’s in the latter stages of his career. He can finally make that jump up to heavyweight and see how he stacks against guys his size. As of right now, he’s without any titles and any scheduled fights,if there was ever a time for him to start over with a clean slate, it’s right now. When he calls it a career and walks away for good, we might need to re-examine his record;but as of right now, Jon Jones is no GOAT.