Cormier denies Jones: ‘When you do dirty s—t you can’t be called GOAT’

Daniel Cormier has ruled on Jon Jones’ GOAT status and found it lacking due to one important factor.

Cormier and Jones spent the better part of three years fighting or almost fighting each other. Five times they were scheduled to fight. They only managed to step into the cage twice. The first fight Jones won. The second fight Jones won as well, but that was overturned after “Bones” tested positive for turinabol — a substance that would pulse in his system for years to come.

That was the second failed drug test from Jones that affected Cormier — a week before UFC 200, Jones vs. Cormier 2 was scrapped after Jones tested positive for clomiphene and letrozol. Jones blamed tainted ‘dick pills,’ but there’s reasons to doubt that story is true.

Given all that craziness, Cormier has never been much of a fan of Jones. He’s mellowed as the years have gone on, but that doesn’t mean he has forgotten all that craziness. In a recent Q&A over Jones’ status as Greatest of all Time (GOAT), Cormier gave Jones his due, but denied him the top spot.

“Honestly, you really can’t deny his greatness,” Cormier said. “Look at what he’s done. The guy has now fought, he really has fought through three generations of fighters. He fought that early generation of Machida, and then went through my generation. And now he’s fighting a whole other generation of guys. Yeah, of course, he’s one of the greatest fighters of all time.”

“But when you do dirty s—t, you don’t get to be called the Greatest of all Time,” he concluded.

That’s the big argument made when seriously discussing who deserves GOAT status. Jones has numerous drug test fails and outside-the-cage controversies that many fans feel disqualify him.

Not UFC CEO Dana White, though.

“[Tom Aspinall] said Jon Jones doesn’t deserve to be the greatest of all time because of the drugs issue in his past,” White said in a recent interview with Piers Morgan. “That I disagree with a hundred per cent … When you think about Jon Jones and how good he really is, then you think about the lifestyle he was living outside of the Octagon, it actually makes it more impressive.”