Chael Sonnen is backing up his ESPN co-host’s decision to leave Jon Jones off his MMA GOAT list.
During a recent appearance on Club Shay Shay, Daniel Cormier excluded ‘Bones’ from his all-time list of greatest mixed martial artists, citing Jones’ history of banned substance abuse as the key reason for his exclusion.
Jones was quick to comment on Cormier’s comments, writing on X: “When DC tells his story, somehow I’m always the co-star.” However, Cormier’s Good Guy/Bad Guy co-star was quick to come to Cormier’s defense.
“Everybody goes down that road where they cheat the rules ’cause they somewhere had the insecurity,” Sonnen said. “They somewhere wanted an edge and then they come back, go ‘But I could have done it anyway.’ Well, maybe you didn’t think you could. If you thought you could, you would’ve not put a synthetic chemical substance into your ass.
“Jon really gets upset about that. He doesn’t deny the hit-and-runs. He doesn’t deny the cocaine allegations. That’s the one that bothers him — the picogram and the couple of failed tests. I do believe Jon could’ve been champ of the world without steroids, but somewhere within him, at some point, he doubted that, and that’s the life he chose.”
There’s no denying that Cormier still holds some personal animosity toward Jones. After all, two of Jones’ positive tests came either directly before or after their scheduled fights inside the Octagon.
The first occurred less than a month ahead of their scrapped rematch at UFC 200. ‘Bones’ was ultimately suspended for one year by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and was promptly stripped of the interim light heavyweight championship.
On July 29, 2017, Jones and ‘DC’ finally met inside the Octagon for the second time at UFC 214. ‘Bones’ won the fight via a third-round TKO, though the result was later overturned after it was revealed that Jones tested positive for Turinabol, an anabolic steroid, immediately following weigh-ins.
The light heavyweight title was then taken from Jones and handed back to Cormier.
Cormier went on to etch his name in the history books, becoming one of just four fighters to hold two UFC titles at the same time. But despite all his success, it’s clear that his two losses against Jones still live rent-free in his head.
