Tom Aspinall acknowledges Jon Jones as an elite MMA fighter but hesitates to consider him the greatest of all time due to Jones’ history of failed drug tests and controversies related to performance-enhancing drugs.
Tom Aspinall has a reason why he doesn’t consider Jon Jones to be at the top of the GOAT list.
Jon Jones is often in the conversation for the best athletes to ever compete in MMA. He’s captured UFC titles in two divisions, including light heavyweight, where he built a 20-1 (1 NC) record before moving up to heavyweight. Along the way, he’s beaten a slew of legends and Hall of Famers. His only official loss? A disqualification against Matt Hamill back in December 2009.
But there’s more to the story. Outside the cage, Jones has faced legal issues and drug-testing controversies. This aspect makes Aspinall hesitant to crown him as the greatest fighter of all time.
“Let me first start by saying Jon is absolutely elite,” Aspinall told Piers Morgan. “I completely agree that he’s one of the best fighters ever. Potentially [the greatest], but he has failed a couple of drug tests. To me, that rules you out of being the best of all-time. For me, personally.”
Jones first tested positive for a banned substance ahead of a high-profile rematch with Daniel Cormier at UFC 200 in July 2016. The result forced him out of the fight and led to a one-year suspension from USADA. They noted it was likely due to a tainted supplement, not intentional rule-breaking.
Then came UFC 214 in July 2017. After beating Cormier with a spectacular head kick, Jones’ victory was overturned when he tested positive again. Another tainted supplement claim, another suspension—this time for 15 months.
Morgan asked if these failed tests make Jones a cheat, and Aspinall didn’t mince words.
“Yeah, of course it does,” Aspinall stated bluntly. “If you’re on steroids or whatever—I don’t think he was on steroids, but he was on PEDs, performance-enhancing drugs. If you’re on PEDs and your opponent isn’t, that’s absolutely cheating in my book unless you’re both allowed to do it.”
Another controversy arose before his title defense against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 in October 2018. Inconsistencies in pre-fight drug testing led to relocating the event from Vegas to Inglewood, Calif., where officials blamed it on a “pulsing effect” from his previous case. Jones argues that with changes in drug-testing protocols and UFC’s split from USADA, his failed test should be erased from his record.
Despite these controversies, Aspinall—currently UFC’s interim heavyweight champ—is still interested in fighting Jones for unification, provided Jones is clean.
“If he’s not using them now, yeah, I think so,” Aspinall said when asked if Jones should be allowed to fight him. “Absolutely.”