Eugene Bareman feels Jon Jones’ previous suspensions have discredited his achievements.
Israel Adesanya’s head coach Eugene Bareman feels Jon Jones’ past suspensions have casted doubt on his achievements in the sport.
Jones (26-1, NC) is widely considered the ‘GOAT’ of MMA. The former light heavyweight kingpin was first tested positive for banned substances before UFC 200 in 2016. Jones was later suspended for a year by USADA.
The following year, Jones tested positive for the anabolic steroid turinabol prior to rematch against Daniel Cormier at UFC 214. He was handed a reduced suspension of 15-months after providing “substantial assistance” to USADA.
“Once you cheat, Jon Jones is about as irrelevant as TJ Dillashaw,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “It’s like, to me they don’t exist. Like, yeah, is anything that TJ Dillashaw did in the past relevant now that he’s cheated? No. It’s not any different for Jon Jones. So, you can’t talk to me about Jon Jones. I have a particular opinion, and that isn’t shared by the rest of the world. So, at the moment the greatest 205-er is Jan B?achowicz. There’s no one else. There’s no one else as great as him.”
Jones recently replied to comments from Bareman about Adesanya being the biggest star in the sport.
Give it up coach, we’ve all seen your cards, your boy has almost no take down defense or offense off his back. Now you’re just being a cloud trout, if you would honestly send him in there against a 260lb wrestler after that last performance, you don’t care about his well being https://t.co/rsQYNhrA93
— BONY (@JonnyBones) March 10, 2021
“Give it up coach, we’ve all seen your cards, your boy has almost no take down defense or offense off his back,” Jones wrote. “Now you’re just being a cloud trout, if you would honestly send him in there against a 260lb wrestler after that last performance, you don’t care about his well being.”
Jones and Adesanya have an been trading words with each other for the last few years. It seems unlikely a fight will be booked between the two rivals any time soon, with Adesanya moving back down to middleweight after his loss to Jan Blachowicz and Jones set to make his heavyweight debut this year.