MMA GOAT: “You paid the price”

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach, Javier Mendez, opened up on why Jon Jones cannot be considered the MMA GOAT (greatest of all time).

Jones is a former two-division UFC champion and has one loss in his career, which came via disqualification.

The American is considered by many as one of the greatest of all time thanks to his dominance in the light heavyweight division.

However, Jones has had multiple run-ins with the law and has also been banned for doping. Mendez was asked about the MMA scene while speaking on The Ahmad Mahmood Show and claimed that Khabib was actually the greatest in MMA:

“The GOAT for me is Khabib, and I would put Jon Jones in that category, but I can’t. You paid the price, you lost your prize, just like any sport.”

Mendez brought up Jones’ doping history:

“If you’re caught doing something you shouldn’t have been doing, how can you be considered at the top of the league? This is a true sport, and in a true sport you cannot, even though you are, you cannot put that person ahead.”

Khabib’s coach compared this situation to those of Olympic medalists and how they get stripped of their accolades, which is why Jones could not be considered as the GOAT:

“How many people have won Olympic gold medals and then they find out they cheated, one way or another, and got the medals taken away from them? If it’s true for any other sport, it should be true for MMA too. That’s the only reason why I don’t consider him the greatest, I do consider him one of them [GOATs].”

Check out Javier Mendez’s thoughts on the MMA GOAT below:

Jon Jones’ rival explains why ‘Bones’ is the GOAT

One of Jon Jones’ former rivals, Rashad Evans, had a different school of thought when compared to Javier Mendez.

Evans lost to Jones at UFC 145 where ‘Bones’ defended the light heavyweight title. Evans, while speaking on SiriusXM, lauded his former rival despite the use of performance enhancing drugs:

“There’s a lot of people who probably used and all this other stuff. And there was a time when people got the exemptions to use testosterone replacement therapy, and there were some people who went over the level of that threshold that they were allowed to have, but it didn’t make them what Jon Jones was. There’s something different that Jon Jones brought to the table.”

‘Suga’, a former UFC light heavyweight champion himself, also highlighted Jones’ mentality, frame and ability, which made him the best:

“He brought a mental ability to go out there and compete in a way that allowed him to be free enough to take the risk that he needed to take that his opponents weren’t willing to take. He had a great frame, a great build for what we do, and he’s a smart fighter. So, I can’t hate on that, and as much as it may pain me because we had the rivalry, but when I shoot it straight, I just got to give him props.”