Jon Jones’ ‘GOAT’ Status Rocked by ‘Cheater’ Claims as Khabib’s Manager Shares Tom Aspinall Like Opinion

While his refusal to unify the UFC heavyweight title against interim champion Tom Aspinall has not been received kindly, fans are now using it as a reason to pile on his misery. From ‘Strip Jones’ on UFC-related posts on social media to bringing up Jon Jones’ issues with failed drug tests and disputes with law enforcement, it’s open season.

While Jones has openly claimed to have been apathetic to these demands and criticisms, it hasn’t stopped fans from tearing his legacy down.  So when an MMA page posted a Mount Rushmore of MMA fighters and included ‘Bones’ in it, the fans had a predictable meltdown.

Notably, former lightweight champion, the 29-0 veteran Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, also joined in on the debate and refused to accept Jones being named in the same vein as Fedor Emelianenko, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

“Cheater not allowed”, Abdelaziz commented, in reference to the UFC heavyweight champion’s history of multiple failed drug tests.

 

But it’s not just Abdelaziz who feels this way; earlier, Aspinall had also refused to accept Jones as the greatest fighter of all time.

The Brit, in an interview with the Kairouz Bros, spoke about how he ranks St-Pierre over Jones in the GOAT list only because he never failed a drug test.

However, it should be noted that Aspinall does rate Jones as a great fighter, considering he would happily place him second on the list behind GSP.

That said, the interim heavyweight champion seems to have accepted that Jones is never going to fight him, claiming that he empathized with the Rochester native, since it would be a huge risk at 37 years old.

Aspinall congratulates Jones on retirement

Jones is currently in Thailand, vacationing, as well as filming for the Russian version of The Ultimate Fighter. In the midst of this, the UFC heavyweight champion also decided to hold a seminar in Phuket where he would teach MMA, and advertised it on social media.

After wrapping up on a successful event, he tweeted out saying, “Just wrapped up the biggest seminar in Phuket history. Half the crowd flew in from the UK-how wild is that? Massive shoutout to my guy Tom for all the free promo…couldn’t have done it without you.”

The tweet was an obvious jab at the Brit who hadn’t stopped talking about how Jones is vacationing in Thailand instead of defending his belt. But Aspinall is not one to stay quiet after a dig like that.

He responded to Jones, saying, “My pleasure Jon. Told you I’m not an a*shole. Glad you’re enjoying retirement.”

Of course, Aspinall couldn’t talk trash to Jones without calling him a duck, so he just added the duck emoji at the end for good measure.