Former four division world champion Roy Jones Jr. is giving his support to UFC champion Jon Jones, who by some observers is regarded as the greatest mixed martial artist of all-time - while others believe there should be an asterisk near his name due to several drug testing issues.
In 2016, Jones had tested positive for clomiphene, an anti-estrogenic substance, and letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor. Both drugs are on the World Anti-Doping Agency banned substances list, and are described as "hormone and metabolic modulators."
In 2017, Jones tested positive for Turinabol, an anabolic steroid, and his knockout of Daniel Cormier was changed to a no-contest and handed a suspension. In 2018, Jones tested positive for a very tiny trace of Turinabol, which was claimed to be connected to use of the substance in 2017. As a result, he was not granted a license to compete in Nevada last month, and his scheduled fight was was moved to Los Angeles - where he received a license from the California commission.
While there are question marks over Jones' legacy among some MMA historians, Roy Jones believes the fighter's legacy is not going to be affected by the controversies.
“This time, it won’t taint his legacy because it’s not like he did it again,” Roy Jones said. “They said it was just residue from an old test. And I understand what the commissioner is saying in Las Vegas because he doesn’t want to get a lawsuit from somebody else because he let it go through.
“It’s difficult, but you have to kind of understand people and understand their argument. Nothing will taint the true legacy of who Jon Jones is.”
And Roy Jones is not buying the notion that allegations of performance enhancing drugs can tarnish a fighter like Jones, who was already considered to be great long before the failed tests came about.
“You think that steroids taint their image? I don’t it think it taints their image because if steroids made that much difference, anybody can be that good if they just used steroids,” Roy Jones said.
“Jon Jones, even in the fights he passed the tests on, he was still that good. The fights he had fought that he had tested positive on, you gotta take them away. But that does not destroy or eliminate who Jon Jones really was.”
