Jon “Bones” Jones is a former Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight UFC champion from Rochester, New York, who fought from 2008 to 2024 in the UFC and is the company’s youngest champion ever. Jones fought with an orthodox fighting style and retired with a record of 18-1. Many consider Jon Jones to be the greatest MMA fighter in history, but there are many reasons why I believe he shouldn’t be a contender for the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of all time). Jon Jones has had many issues in his career that say otherwise.
One of the newest and most popular of those is his decision not to fight Tom “The Honey Badger” Aspinall and holding the UFC Heavyweight division back for 2 years because he ducked Tom, and saying he will fight him, but ended up retiring after 2 years of wasting Dana’s and all the fans’ time by thinking the fight would happen. A few years ago, Jones also faced his next biggest challenge yet, Francis “The Predator” Ngannou. Ngannou was known for having a punch power as strong as a Ford Escort, according to the CEO and President Dana White. After knowing the fight would almost be unavoidable, he just started asking for way more money than reasonable, with the intention of destroying negotiations and making the fight one of the company’s biggest what-ifs in history.
Jones also has a long history of using steroids and failing drug tests. In 2016 and 2017, Jon Jones failed 2 PED (performance-enhancing drug) tests. The most notable time he used PEDS was a day before his fight with Daniel “DC” Cormier. Jon Jones was forced to take a urine test to see if he was on any banned substances. He failed because he tested positive for Turinabol, which is an anabolic steroid that makes the user be able to get stronger and have longer endurance. The test results were sadly delayed, forcing Daniel Cormier to get knocked it gave him a bad concussion. The fight was ruled a no-contest and stripped Bones of his Heavyweight title. He also failed a banned substance test for cocaine in 2015.
Another reason why Jon Jones shouldn’t be considered the GOAT is that from September 8th, 2020, through November 16, 2024, he had only fought 3 times. In perspective, that is 1,538 days, an average of 1 fight every 512.6 days. A reminder, this is when he was champion, because he hardly fought for 4 years, he was holding back the division. In comparison to the other most popular contenders for GOAT. George St-Pierre fought 3 times in 364 days, an average of fighting every 121.3 days, before retiring for the first time, and Demetrius “Mighty Mouse” Johnson fought 3 times in 841 days, an average of fighting every 280.3 days, before being traded to ONE Fighting Championship.
In conclusion, Jon Jones should not be considered the GOAT because of his history of ducking fights that held the division back, failing drug tests, and rarely fighting.
Michael John • Sep 13, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Wow, very interesting! You researched and stated many facts that I was not aware of. It makes sense that he should not be considered the GOAT! Well done! Thanks for sharing.
Michael John • Sep 12, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Wow, a lot of interesting facts I was not aware of! Change my entire opinion on him. Thanks for researching and setting the record straight! Good work!