Jon Jones’ GOAT credentials shouldn’t be discounted says ex-UFC star in response to Daniel Cormier and another legend

Matt Brown argues that a lot of Jon Jones’ opponents were also cheating when he fought them

Like Daniel Cormier, Demetrious Johnson also believes that Jon Jones should be discredited in the UFC GOAT debate for one reason.

‘Bones’ has achieved unmatched success inside the Octagon but some of his conduct outside of it has led to a lot of criticism over the years.

Alongside his one disqualification loss, the only other blemish on Jones’ record is his no contest in the rematch with Cormier at UFC 214 where the result was overturned due to the champion failing a drugs test.

While some of his fellow MMA legends believe that this track record means that he shouldn’t be in consideration, Matt Brown has a different outlook on things.

“My two cents is realistically that should not negate him because the vast majority of guys he’s competing against are doing the same s—,” Brown said on the latest episode of MMA Fighting’s The Fighter vs. The Writer.

‘The Immortal’ went on to draw comparisons between MMA and cycling, where Lance Armstrong was scolded for cheating even though many of his opponents were doing the same thing.

“So I think [for Cormier] it’s a little bit personal. If you believe that USADA, the drug tests, that’s real and it’s actually stopping people, then you can say Jon Jones should not be the greatest or on Mount Rushmore or whatever because of that specific incident or multiple incidents for Jon Jones, I guess. But if you look at it realistically, the vast majority are doing it if they can afford to do it or they have the means to do it.”

Matt Brown doubles down on his stance by referencing several other GOAT contenders

Matt Brown referenced several other legendary fighters when further explaining his stance on whether a track record of failing drug tests impacts your status as one of the all-time greats.

Anderson Silva is another fighter that some people choose to discredit for the same reason, but Brown doesn’t think that it is this clean cut.

He argued why it shouldn’t necessarily come down to whether a fighter was ever caught taking performance enhancing drugs or not, because that could be a grey area in itself.

“If you just want to talk about Jon Jones, Anderson Silva [etc.], they tested positive, okay. “That’s an easy argument but you could talk about [Georges St-Pierre], there was a lot of opinions that he was on s—. You could take just about all of the guys in that GOAT argument, and it’s an opinion whether they were on s— or not.”