During a week Mayweather and McGregor were meant to dominate the fight world headlines; news broke today from the UFC about its most dominant fighter of all-time: “USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case involving Jones, as it relates to the UFC Anti-Doping Policy and future UFC participation. Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full and fair legal process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed.”
Sigh.
There will be no hand wringing or ‘’how dare he do such a thing’’ from this writer. Jon “Bones” Jones is a grown man who made his own decisions and he’ll now live with those consequences. He is the most gifted fighter in UFC history and I would not have a hard time making a case for him to lay claim to that title for all Mixed Martial Arts. Even with these positive tests, I still believe he lays claim to that title. However, he’s essentially now thrown that career away with a laundry list of bad choices. Jones will likely face a 2 year ban or longer depending upon the findings of the commission. Fighters, Media, and internet trolls will forever put asterisks by his career and will now question how good he truly was; Jones earned every bit of that cynicism. People will now wonder: “could he beat Cormier without the banned substance” or “Is he truly the best-ever if he’s now tested positive multiple times for banned substances; but in the end none of that matters. Those questions are message board filler and stupid toss-up questions for gas-bag sports debate shows. The only thing that matters, is the sport lost a generational talent to poor choices outside the Octagon. Instead of fawning adoration & myth making, Jones must now get used to his new caveat in the combat sports pantheon: the greatest of all-time…who threw it all away.
