Islam Makhachev Says He Does Not Count Jon Jones Win Streak
Islam Makhachev said he does not count Jon Jones’ winning streak because the former two-division champion failed two doping tests. The UFC welterweight titleholder told Ushatayka that Jones remains one of the greatest athletes in the sport, but that the run should not stand as a clean record.
The comments come from the same interview in which Makhachev discussed a possible boxing match with Conor McGregor. They land while Makhachev sits on the official UFC record of 17 consecutive wins after his August decision over Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330.
Jones last fought in November 2024, knocking out Stipe Miocic to keep the heavyweight title. He stepped away in June 2025 rather than meet Tom Aspinall, who was then elevated to undisputed champion.
Makhachev did not hedge on the streak question. “I don’t count it,” he said.
He immediately separated Jones the fighter from Jones the record. “I don’t deny that Jon Jones is one of the greatest athletes in history, but he was caught on doping twice.”
The two cases that produced sanctions are public. Jones tested positive for clomiphene and letrozole in 2016 and was pulled from UFC 200. He later tested positive for a turinabol metabolite after knocking out Daniel Cormier at UFC 214, a result that was changed to a no-contest.
Makhachev tied those tests directly to the streak. “I believe his streak isn’t valid because he competed under the influence and won, and that’s when his new count began.”
That is his opinion, not a UFC ruling. The promotion still lists Jones at 22-1 with one no-contest. His only official UFC loss remains the 2009 disqualification against Matt Hamill.
Jones has long argued the positives came from tainted supplements and has said he never took steroids. Arbitrators in both major cases found he did not knowingly cheat, but they still held him responsible under anti-doping rules.
Makhachev did not claim Jones was never great. After drawing the line on the streak, he went back to the same praise Jones has received for more than a decade.
“Still, he’s one of the strongest ever,” Makhachev said. Asked if Jones might even be the strongest, he added, “I don’t know.”
The exchange sits inside a larger GOAT argument that Jones himself recently reopened. In June, Jones called Makhachev one of the greatest fighters in the world and placed the Dagestani next to himself.
Makhachev’s 29-1 record and dual-division title run give him a clean statistical case. He has never failed a drug test in the UFC, and his 17-fight streak is the longest the promotion now recognizes.
Jones’ heavier résumé includes titles at 205 and 265 pounds and a long stretch as the man most voters called the best alive. The failed tests are the reason that résumé always carries an argument.
Jones is not fully gone from the picture. He has stayed in the UFC testing pool, trained Gable Steveson, and said as recently as July that he keeps the door open if the promotion calls.
Makhachev is pointed in a different direction. He wants another welterweight title defense before Ramadan in February 2027 and has named active contenders such as Carlos Prates as the most deserving next options.
Nothing in the Ushatayka clip books a fight between them or changes either man’s official record. It does put the champion on record about the one number Jones’ critics have always treated as tainted.
Jones can still answer that view if he returns. Until then, Makhachev’s position is clear: he respects Jones as one of the strongest fighters the sport has produced, and he still will not count the streak.