Why JBJ's failed drug tests don't bother me (looking at the bigger picture)

[Rank Squatter]

And for fighters who don't wanna juice???

its simple... dont do them or don't sign the contract to fight

people have choices

 

[maximus__]

Often when talking about Jon Jones, people bitterly discredit him by bringing up his failed drug tests. Personally, I think this has no bearing on his GOATness. Here's why.

Cheating is a part of the fight game, and many of the greats have cheated in some capacity. For example:

- Sonny Liston's team used to coat his gloves with some mysterious itchy substance (reported by multiple opponents)

- Muhammad Ali and his coach did the ol' 'my glove is torn, I need a new one' to stall for time

- GSP's team lubed his back against BJ

- Khabib and the magic Abu Dhabi scales

The list goes on and on...

'Cheating' is not a bad thing. It shows that you're willing to do whatever it takes to win. Singling Jon Jones out is unfair. The only problem is that he got caught.

I'm a realist, a pragmatist. I don't live in my own echo chamber where the world is perfect and people are perfect. There is no such thing as a 'pure' fighter. Cheating is sanctioned in MMA, hence why weight cutting is a thing. If there did exist a 'pure' fighter, let me tell you one thing: he wouldn't have done OK in MMA.


- Big Franklin

Jones technically should have been banned from the sport due to his inability to pass drug tests and 3 seperate PED failures. The guy popped for clomiphene and Turanibol, before admitting to hiding under the cage in his gym to avoid a drug test. He also then had so much turanibol in his system he couldn't be guaranteed to test negative again and got a pass.

That's before we ignore the fact that there was a period where he poked every single fighter he faced in the eye atleast once during their fights and never had a single point taken.

He was an amzing fighter, but the inability for USADA and the referees to do their job, doesn't excuse his or any other fighters behaviour you listed above.

Fighters shouldn't feel they need to take PEDs just to be on par with these cheaters. PEDs aren't good for you. If you punish the use of PEDs and catch cheaters, then you can remove them from the sport. I don't believe every athlete is using at all.

 

[Yellowcrab]

Only fighters that have a clean record under USADA can speak with Jon Jones.

All other fighters are completely irrelevant as far as drug testing is concerned.

 

[POWER SLAP WORLD CHAMPION]

Nice, we should apply TS' simple-minded logic to other immoral situations such as:

Robbery, genocide, murder, rape, terrorism, torture, animal cruelty, human trafficking, child abuse and worst of all beating your petite, middle-aged wife in public.

 

[Richard Fannin]

BJ Penn abused IVs so much that USADA flagged him and his fight against Cole Miller was cancelled.

Extreme weight cutters like BJ are cheaters.

Plus, Penn has also been accused of greasing, alongside other notorious cheaters like Anderoid Silvaseline

 

[Richard Fannin]

Using the unscientific eyeball test... nothing I've seen about Jones make me believe that he'd be any less dominant if he and absolutely everyone he faced was clean as a whistle.

So why did he shoot steroids then, if it didn't matter anyway?

Roids are for losers.

True GOATs => Fedor & GSP

 

[MMAALLDAYBAYBAY]

Performing an absurd amount of mental gymnastics in a futile attempt to justify obvious cheating is an interesting approach... Me thinks you have a very serious allergy to accountability.

 

[fandangler101]

Jones is actually the most successful GOAT who has consistently fought under strict drug testing. It is worthy remembering that GSP retired barely a month before strict drug testing came in

Don’t spin a false narrative. GSP stepped away because the UFC was refusing to implement real testing.

 

[Clark Rogers]

OP's brave lolol

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Putting him in the best possible light...

...when they started cracking down on PEDs and everyone else had to lower or change their PED usage dramatically to keep from getting caught, he kept using egregiously.

That's me bending over backwards to put the best spin possible on the situation.

 

[JustforBROCK]

*cliffs

'he's my fav fighter and I will make whatever excuses I need to make to justify his short comings.'

 

[daniel san]

Cheating is always bad. But yeah, I think everyone is on PEDs so if a fighter gets caught, it’s not like it takes away from his achievements.

 

[Yellowcrab]

Don’t spin a false narrative. GSP stepped away because the UFC was refusing to implement real testing.

USADA was there in 2015, yet GSP chose to come back in 2017.

A fighter who only has a single fight under USADA in his whole career is not allowed to speak with Jon Jones as far as drug testing is concerned.

Only fighters with a substantial and clean record under USADA are allowed to confront Jon Jones about his failed drug tests.

 

[20falarVerdades]

Don’t spin a false narrative. GSP stepped away because the UFC was refusing to implement real testing.

False

 

[Cartiac]

Why do so many people feel the need to express such strong statements about things they clearly know nothing about? Jon Jones has officially never been found to have taken any steroid or anything to enhance his performance.

Bunch of dumbassess parrotting ignorant stuff they read from other dumbassess.

 

[OldBoy91]

I competed for 4 years across 3 combat sports and never once cheated; never poked someone’s eye, never kicked someone in the groin, and never tested positive for anything. Fück you for advocating for cheaters.

According to TS you just didn't want to win bad enough bro.

 

[Yellowcrab]

The problem with Sherdog is the constant double standard : they don't care about cheating, they simply hate Jon Jones.

If they cared about cheating, they would never dare to include fighters who made most of their career in Japan in the GOAT conversation in the first place.

 

[Yellowcrab]

Yes, he "fought under strict drug testing" and failed them while his opponents didn't. Not sure why you thought that was a decent point about GSP because if there wasn't "strict drug testing" for him, then there wasn't for his opponents either. Jon had strict drug testing for his opponents while he himself was pissing a hole into the drug testing cup.

Your point is completely irrelevant : people are accusing Jon Jones of being a cheater, but even without USADA, doping was still forbidden in the UFC. So it doesn't matter. If GSP took something, then he's a cheater just like Jon Jones.

Also, Jon Jones proved that he's still great under stringent drug testing, but we don't know for GSP because he almost never had to deal with proper drug testing during his whole career.

As a fighter, Jon Jones is above GSP by any metric. GSP is irrelevant today and would likely never be a champion in today competition, hence why Canada never produced another champion. Canada was competitive when MMA was still weak.

 

[bongwater]

Jon jones was found innocent!

 

[1King]

Cheating is definitely bad, but the thing is, even if guys are cheating, USADA misses most of it, so it's more likely that they miss 95% of the cheating that goes on, so it's really not even worth stressing or trying to credit or discredit. They all work under the same system, some guys are better at cheating than others, some are better at evading tests than others. It's hard to discern how much each person even gains from it, etc. I rather just turn the fight on, watch them fight, then go on with my life.