American Kickboxing Academy head coach Javier Mendez believes Jon Jones’ past failed drug tests eliminate him from the greatest of all time debate.
UFC CEO Dana White has been stumping hard for heavyweight champion Jones, chastising media for ranking him No. 3 in the pound-for-pound standings behind light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and Mendez-trained lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, who is No. 1.
But Mendez argues that based on Jones’ history with failed tests linked to performance-enhancing drugs, he shouldn’t be considered the greatest fighter of all time.
“Dana is still insisting that Jon Jones is pound-for-pound No. 1,” Mendez said on his “Javier Mendez Podcast.” “He has his valid points, but my valid point is I just say one thing: Lance Armstrong.
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France how many times? And basically he got all those titles taken away from him because of one thing: doping. And even though it was many years later that they caught him, he lost all his Tour de France (titles). Well, it’s been a fact, it’s been proven Jon Jones has been caught doping. So, I’m sorry, I think that disqualifies him just based on that alone.”
Jones’ second win over Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 was overturned to a no contest when he tested positive for the anabolic steroid turinabol. His sentence was significantly reduced from four years to a 15-month sentence after he provided “substantial assistance” to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which ran the UFC’s program at the time. Jones stated he did not knowingly take any prohibited substances and that the substances he consumed were tainted.
Jones failed a third drug test prior to his UFC 232 rematch with Alexander Gustafsson when he tested positive for the same turinabol metabolites. However, USADA determined they were trace amounts in the form of picograms incapable of giving Jones a competitive advantage. He defeated Gustafsson in the UFC 232 headliner to reclaim the vacant light heavyweight title.
Mendez also disagrees with White calling Jones the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter.
“He would be in a big consideration, but he hasn’t fought since (2023),” Mendez said. “So, I don’t know how you can put him in that category because of what he did before. He’s not active. If he was active, then there’s a bigger challenge for that, but he’s not active.
“His abilities? Yeah, I can see that, 100 percent. I mean, the guy is one of the greatest of all time, for sure. But for me, I value the greatest of all time based on what they do outside, not just what they do inside.”
