Jon Jones & Islam Makhachev Take Shots Over Jones’ UFC Win Streak & PED Use

Two of the greatest UFC fighters in history, Jon Jones and Islam Makhachev, have been trading shots.

Makhachev (29-1) broke the UFC’s official win-streak record in August when he defended his welterweight championship against Ian Garry for his 17th consecutive win. Former middleweight champion Anderson Silva held the previous record of 16. Jones, a former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, won 20 bouts in a row from 2010 to 2024, but a no-contest against Daniel Cormier in 2017 interrupted his streak. 

Makhachev recently gave an interview to a Russian news outlet in which he said Jones’s no-contest resulted from a failed drug test by the United States Anti-Doping Agency and that it invalidates his win streak.

“I’m not denying that Jon Jones is one of the greatest athletes in history, but he was caught doping twice,” Makhachev told Ushatayka. “I think that’s why his win streak isn’t considered valid. Because he went into a fight while on PEDs and won, that’s where a new count should have started.”

In 2017, Jones was fined and suspended for 15 months for testing positive for an extreme amount of steroid metabolites. Jones defeated Cormier in their fight, but it was later changed to a no-contest.

An independent arbitrator later stated he believed Jones unknowingly ingested the substance, and it was not performance-enhancing. Jones used this finding to argue for his innocence. He would do this again after responding to Makhachev’s comments.

Jones said on X, “If you believe USADA for finding a picogram in my system, then you must believe USADA when they say ‘It was not found to be PERFORMANCE ENHANCING or INTENTIONAL. You can’t have it both ways. Last I checked, my hand got raised every time I was in the Octagon, as far as any of you can remember. Your own coach said I was a ‘gift from God.’ Let’s not forget you’ve been KO’d, flatlined and gone night-night.

Makhachev’s only loss came by knockout to Adriano Martins in his second UFC fight in 2015. He would respond to Jones the following day, taking shots at Jones’ troubled legal history, both in and out of competition.

“Jon, I’m not trying to diminish your achievements in any way,” Makhachev wrote on X. “But your whole life seems to be tied to breaking the rules one way or another, and somehow, you’re never the one to be blamed.”