“When You’ve Been Caught…”: Comparing Jon Jones to Lance Armstrong, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Coach Brings Back UFC Champ’s Dark Past While Snubbing Him of the GOAT Title

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach, Javier Mendez, had some pretty strong opinions about the UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones. With the dominance that ‘Bones’ displayed in the Octagon, many in the world of mixed martial arts and fans think that the title of GOAT is well-deserved by him. However, Mendez believes differently.

In a recent conversation with his co-host on the ‘Javier Mendez Podcast’, prior to UFC London, Mendez dug up Jones’ dark past. He connected the UFC champion to the former professional cyclist Lance Armstrong. While the champion is celebrated as the greatest fighter of all time, he had a past with failed drug tests and year-long suspensions. Even though Jones endured the punishment, the AKA coach wasn’t ready to accept him as the GOAT.

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach writes of Jon Jones as the GOAT

In the recent episode of his podcast, Mendez opened up on the debate regarding ‘Bones’ as the GOAT. It is not an exaggeration to say that most of the combat sports universe deems the champion the greatest fighter. However, Mendez was a bit strict on his assessment.

He said, “And Jon Jones is probably the greatest of all time, in the heavyweight division and the light heavyweight division, and maybe as a fighter all in general… I don’t only because of, you know, when you’ve been caught, it doesn’t really, you kind of disqualify yourself in my opinion, just like a lot of, like Lance Armstrong, you know. He was the greatest Tour de France guy of all time, he got caught, he’s no longer holds any titles, you know.”

Read More: “Who Does That?!”: Jon Jones Decides To Lay Bare His Frustration on the Latest P4P Ranking and Being Tied Up With Alexander Volkanovski

Mendez dived right into the murkiness of Jones’ past. He didn’t fail to commend the fighter for dominating the arena in light heavyweight and heavyweight categories. But he wasn’t ready to accept him as the greatest since he was caught using PEDs. He further compared the mixed martial artist with Armstrong, who lost all his titles after getting caught.

Despite his past, Jones attracts all the praise

After digging up Jones’ history with failed drug tests, Nurmagomedov’s coach addressed the fighter’s strengths. Although he claimed that Jones should have been disqualified, Mendez thought highly of his fighting prowess.

Mendez believed that Jones dominated the Octagon because of his high fight IQ. Furthermore, he claimed that the fighter had commendable fighting skills and was truly calculative when it came to combat.

Watch this story: After Intense Beef, Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones Faceoff Raises the Roof at Pfl Five

Do you agree with what Mendez had to say? Do you think Jones is worthy of being called the GOAT? Let us know in the comments down below.