Jon Jones has kept the entire world of mixed martial arts on edge with his return to the Octagon to defend his heavyweight championship belt against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. But the HW champ hasn’t been able to evade the allegations of PED use. With just above a month left for the much-awaited showdown with Miocic, ‘Bones’ released a picture of himself on Instagram that has been going viral on the internet. However, the fighting community linked the heavyweight’s jacked physique to performance enhancers.

On the IG story, Jones wrote, “45 more days.” Needless to say, he seemed pretty impatient to get into the Octagon for his very first heavyweight title defense. After all, he had to wait about a year to fight Miocic. No wonder, the hype was so high. But things took a darker turn when a screenshot of the IG story found its way onto Reddit.

The caption of the Reddit post read, “Jon looking way better (no diddy) and more in shape than he was in the city Gabe fight.” Back in March 2023, Jones made his debut in the heavyweight realm against Ciryl Gane. And in just 4 seconds above the 2-minute mark on the clock, ‘Bones’ successfully submitted his French opponent. Coming up fresh as a heavyweight, Jon Jones didn’t look as jacked at UFC 285, as he looked in the viral photograph. 

As soon as the picture crossed the threshold of the social media platform, the fight fans took over the comments section and revealed what they thought about it.

Jon Jones gets reminded of his PED allegations as he shows off his physique prior to the Stipe Miocic fight

Most of the fans misread Jones’ caption. They seemingly mistook days for d–gs. One of the fans wrote, “Almost read that as “45 more d–gs.” Meanwhile, another fan commented, “45 more days, 45 more drugs.” The fighting community had already turned on its speculation mode and imagined the consequences of another failed PED test. A fan wrote, “Imagine if he failed a d–g test after his fight. That would be the perfect ending to jones career failing again on the biggest stage of his career.”

Before entering the heavyweight division, Jon Jones used to dominate the light heavyweight realm. But some fans believed that he looked a bit too big to be counted as an LHW contender. One comment read, “Looks like someone who is way too big to be fighting in LHW his entire career.” This gave birth to a banter as a fan replied, “Not at all, he is a natural light heavy. He had to bulk for years to achieve his current form.”

Being 37 years old comes with a lot of experience. But in the case of athletes, it’s a pointer for retirement. Even Jones has talked about it quite a few times. And the fight fans weren’t oblivious to it at all. One fan wrote, “man this dude should retire man. I dont understand the drama he is old, stipe looks kind of old..this should be some kind of superfight? Look at Aspinall, i think he could fight both of them in the same night. The dude looks young, hungry and fit. Pass the torch man and dont hang in too long.” Another fan pointed out, “Jones greying and looking old stings because I’m older and way less talented. We’re not all gonna make it fam. Zyzz lied.”

Jon Jones’ PED accusations have repeatedly put the HW champion in a bad light. Be it the former UFC contender Matt Brown, or a fellow fighter, Colby Covington, the fighting community wasn’t happy about it at all. Brown even dismissed Dana White’s claims and revealed that Jones could have been the P4P #1, but the PED history pulled him down.

What are your thoughts on Jon Jones’ jacked picture ahead of the Stipe Miocic fight? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.