At this point it’s hard to imagine that Jon Jones’ legacy in MMA won’t always carry some sort of asterisk. The former multiple-time light heavyweight king has still never meaningfully been defeated in the Octagon – sporting only a DQ against Matt Hammill as the lone loss in his 22-1 (1 NC) record. However (along with various legal troubles) two failed drug tests have seen him stripped of championship titles, have seen one win overturned, and have thoroughly derailed the last few years of his career.
But now, once again, he’s back.
Jones is preparing his return to the cage, finishing up the last few days of his latest USADA suspension – ending on October 28th. And once that’s officially behind him, he’s already got a championship fight lined up. Jones is scheduled to face former foe Alexander Gustafsson on December 29th in Las Vegas, NV, at UFC 232. The winner, per UFC announcement, will be awarded the title belt currently wrapped around Daniel Cormier’s waist.
As such, and with a myriad of controversies trailing behind him, Jones seems intent to clear at least some part of his reputation. Most notably, in a recent guest appearance on the JacksonWink Raw podcast, ‘Bones’ looked to shed the label of “cheater” in regards to his failed drug tests. From his point of view, the results of both USADA investigations entirely cleared him of any intent to enhance his performance in the cage (transcript via MMA Fighting).
“I would say that those would be people looking for an excuse not to give it to me, not to give credit where it’s due,” Jones said. “Because in the first situation, it was proven — well, in both situations, whatever was in me chemically was proven scientifically that the amounts were so small that there was no way possible to affect my performance in a positive or a negative way.”
“The dick pill situation, that was proven that it was a mistake,” Jones explained. “Who takes a male enhancement pill expecting to fight better? I mean, nobody. We actually found the company, we found the exact pills, we ordered the pills and the pills came back with stuff in it that wasn’t supposed to be in there. Such a small amount that it’s not going to make you fight any better or make you stronger.
“Then in the second situation,” he continued, “we just found out to have USADA say ‘the amount of steroids we found in your body Jon, it was like taking a pinch of salt and throwing it in an Olympic size swimming pool’. It was such a small amount that it’s pretty obvious that this was an accident. And then for this to be something that got into your body two weeks before the fight — so two weeks before the fight, you took a pinch of steroids and threw it in an Olympic size swimming pool. It’s very clear that this is nothing that helped you knock out Daniel Cormier.”
Eventually he called out those fans who would still label him a cheater, despite USADA findings, telling them, “...you just don’t want to admit that I’m pretty f-ing good at this.”
Jones’ bout with Gustafsson will be his first since his overturned knockout of Daniel Cormier in July of 2017 – a win that initially saw him regain the 205 title, before having it stripped again. It will also be the second time that he and Gustafsson have met in the cage – having initially competed in 2013, during Jones’ first championship run.
Their first fight has been considered by many to be the most difficult contest of the Team Jackson-Wink athlete’s career – one that some even suggest he lost. A superfight between featherweight and bantamweight champions Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes is set for the co-main event.