Jon Jones Says Doping Violations 'So Small It Can't Affect Your Performance'

Jon Jones’ list of accomplishments places him firmly among the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, but two doping violations mar that résumé and diminish his achievements in the mind of his many detractors.

The 31 year-old became the youngest champion in Ultimate Fighting Championship history when he defeated Mauricio Rua in March of 2011 to secure the light heavyweight belt. Jones recently spoke to MMA Weekly on why his achievements shouldn’t be dismissed despite his history of violations.

“I would say that those [calling me a cheater] would be people looking for an excuse not to give it to me, not to give credit where it’s due,” Jones. “In both situations, whatever was in me chemically was proven scientifically that the amounts were so small that there was no way possible to affect my performance in a positive or a negative way.

“The two times where I’ve failed drug tests for performance enhancers, it’s been so small that it can’t affect your performance.”

“The d–k pill situation, that was proven that it was a mistake,” Jones explained, speaking about his first violation in 2016. “Who takes a male enhancement pill expecting to fight better? I mean nobody. We actually found the company, found the exact pills, we ordered the pills and the pills came back with stuff in it that wasn’t supposed to be in there. Such a small amount that it’s not going to make you fight any better or be stronger.

“Then in the second situation, we just found out to have USADA say ‘the amount of steroids we found in your body Jon, it was like taking a pinch of salt and throwing it in an Olympic size swimming pool’. It was such a small amount that it was pretty obvious this was an accident. For this to be something that got into your body two weeks before the fight. So two weeks before the fight, you took a pinch of steroids and threw it in an Olympic size swimming pool. It’s clear this is nothing that helped you knock out Daniel Cormier.”

That statement gives Jones comfort in knowing that he didn’t go into his fights with an advantage despite what some fans think.

“To answer your question — to anybody who would say ‘well he must have been cheating’ — after what I just said, if you still want to call me a cheater, you just don’t want to admit that I’m f–king pretty good at this,” Jones concluded.