UFC 232's Jon Jones Hits Back At Critics Labeling Him A Cheater

As he gets ready to return to the octagon again at UFC 232, Jon Jones took aim at some of his critics who still label him as a cheater.

Jones is regarded by some as the greatest fighter of all time and for many, including UFC president Dana White, the most talented fighter of all time.

In addition to being the youngest champion in UFC history, the only loss on his 21-1-1 record was a disqualification, while the 31-year-old has one of the most impressive resumes ever with wins over champions such as Daniel Cormier, Vitor Belfort, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and more.

However, many also feel his legacy is tainted because of his history of failed drug tests.

In the last two years, Jones has failed two drug tests, the most recent of which came after his UFC 214 win over Cormier in July last year when he tested positive for small traces of turinabol. In both cases, Jones was cleared and not deemed a drug cheat by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), however, critics such as Cormier are not convinced and still call him a cheat.

For Jones, those critics are just looking for a reason to not regard his greatness.

“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 while speaking on the Jackson-Wink podcast, as quoted on MMA Weekly. “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 two times where I’ve failed drug tests for performance enhancers, it’s been so small that it can’t affect your performance," he said.

"Bones" would then explain the nature of his two failed drug tests and how the second one had no bearing on his knockout win over Cormier last year which was eventually overturned.

“The d–k pill situation [at UFC 200], that was proven that it was a mistake,” Jones explained of his first failed drug test in the summer of 2016. “Who takes a male enhancement pill expecting to fight better. I mean nobody. We actually found the company, 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 be stronger."

“Then in the second situation, 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 was pretty obvious this was an accident. 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 clear this is nothing that helped you knock out Daniel Cormier," he said.

“To answer your question — to anybody who would say ‘well he must have been cheating’ — after what I just said, if you still want to call me a cheater, you just don’t want to admit that I’m f--king pretty good at this,” Jones concluded.

Jones was given a retrospective 15-month suspension from USADA last month which ends this Sunday.

He will then face Alexander Gustafsson for the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 232 on Dec. 29 in one of the most highly-anticipated rematches.