Before Jon Jones ever failed any drug test for steroids, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion of the world had already accomplished so much in mixed martial arts (MMA), including becoming the youngest champion in UFC history, breaking title defense records at 205 pounds, all while demolishing the division.
And while Jon denies ever taking steroids despite two blood samples saying otherwise, there are some in the fight game who think “Bones” never needed any extra help for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) to be a great fighter. Among them is ex-division champion and living legend Chuck Liddell, who doesn’t understand why Jones went down that road at all.
“Jon Jones is his own worst enemy. He is such a great fighter and I don’t know why he decided, it seemed like in the off-season he decided to start using steroids,” proclaimed Chuck during a recent interview on The MMA Hour.
“Obviously, he’s got his time in court, I guess. I mean, it looked real obvious due to his increase in size. I don’t know if he needed that. It just seemed he got around the wrong people, got around the wrong idea and decided he wanted to, now he got caught. It’s sad,” he added.
While many feel Jones has been juicing for the majority of his career — this guy included — “The Iceman” doesn’t think that’s the case. If anything, Liddell says it was when Jones had time off due to other troubles when he may have started dabbling with PEDs.
“That’s what happens when anybody gets caught (legacy tarnished). I don’t know. It looks like there was huge change in short period of time in that one break he took. It seemed like he grew a lot over that time. I seem to think that’s where it started, but I don’t know. He hasn’t said anything other than another tainted supplement. But he gets his time in court,” reiterated Chuck.”
Jones is facing a potential four-year ban from MMA since he had already served a one-year suspension for a previous failed drug test at UFC 200. And though Liddell is all for increased penalties, he doesn’t want to see “Bones” get hit with a four-year suspension.
“I still want to see him fight again. I’m torn with that, too. If you want to stop guys from using performance enhancing drugs, well there need to be penalties for when you get caught,” said Chuck.
“There is always going to to be that cat and mouse game where guys are trying to catch them and trying to beat the test. You have got to make it cost you if you mess and get caught. The progressive suspensions is what you need, they need to be longer and longer the more you get caught doing these things. But, I wouldn’t want to see a four-year (suspension), I still want to see him fight again,” he concluded.
United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) has yet to make a decision regaridng Jon’s possible suspension.