Chael Sonnen believes he knows why Jon Jones chose a tainted path in his career.
Jones is often hailed as the greatest MMA fighter of all time, and his resume more than justifies that. At 23, "Bones" made history as the UFC’s youngest champion by winning the light heavyweight title. He holds a 28-1 record and has remained unbeaten in 17 world title fights.
However, Jones’ longtime rival Daniel Cormier holds a starkly different perspective. The UFC Hall of Famer recently stirred headlines by leaving Jones off his Mount Rushmore of MMA greats, pointing to the shadow of failed drug tests and controversies that cloud his otherwise legendary career.
The former two-division UFC champion’s illustrious career has been marred by multiple failed drug tests, most notably a positive result for a turinabol metabolite following his knockout win over "DC" in their UFC 214 rematch in July 2017, which was later overturned to a no contest.
“Bones” also failed a drug test for the estrogen blockers clomiphene and letrozole following his victory over Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197 in April 2016, costing him the UFC 205-pound title.
Chael Sonnen Claims Jon Jones Used PEDs Out Of Insecurity, Not Necessity
During a recent episode of Good Guy/Bad Guy with Daniel Cormier, Chael Sonnen, who has openly acknowledged using performance-enhancing drugs during his fighting days, offered his theory on what may have pushed Jon Jones to resort to banned substances despite his repeated denials.
The UFC veteran-turned-analyst suggested that "Bones" resorted to PEDs out of insecurity, arguing that even with his extraordinary talent, there came a point where self-doubt crept in.
Everybody goes down that road where they cheat the rules because they somewhere had an insecurity," Chael 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 have not put a synthetic chemical substance into your as*.
It's just one of those things, and 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. That's a very common thing with athletes. I do believe Jon could have been champ of the world without steroids, but somewhere within him, at some point, he doubted that, and that's the life he chose.
