Glover Teixeira Compares Jon Jones To Lance Armstrong

Heading into his light heavyweight title fight with then champion Jon Jones at UFC 172 in April 2014, Brazilian slugger Glover Teixeira had won an incredible 20 straight fights including five straight inside of the Octagon, but he ended up proving to be no challenge to Jones, as he was dominated throughout their five round bout. Now, Teixeira finds himself in yet another fight with a title shot possibly looming in the balance, as he’s set to meet fellow former title challenger Anthony Johnson in the co-main event of this weekend’s (August 20, 2016) UFC 202. This time, however, the winner won’t be headed towards a scrap with Jones.

Jones’ fighting future is currently unclear after he was pulled from his scheduled UFC 200 (July 9, 2016) headliner with reinging champion Daniel Cormier due to a potential anti-doping violation. UFC President Dana White recently said that things are looking up for Jones, who’s had quite the troubled past few years. Teixeira, speaking on the matter, said it’s ‘sad’ to see ‘the best fighter in history’ do these types of things:

“It’s hard to comment. Jon Jones is the best fighter in history,” Teixeira said, according to a translation from Bloody Elbow’s Lucas Rezende. “He could be doing what Usain Bolt is doing. He’s one of the best fighters ever, defeated everybody in the weight class and then does what he’s been doing for the past couple of years. It’s sad. We want a chance to fight the guy. To get in there and knock him out. But it’s part of the sport.”

Continuing on, the Brazilian said that he hopes Jones rebounds, but he also compared the former pound-for-pound king to controversial cyclist Lance Armstrong, who had a plethora of his titles stripped after being busted by USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency):

“We never want anything bad to happen, especially to an athlete like Jon Jones,” Teixeira said. “I hope he can get back on track. I don’t think Jon Jones needed to take anything. He’s younger than everybody else. Plus, if he took something he shouldn’t, he should lose his title.

“He’s like Lance Armstrong, who won all those titles and then they took them away from him. So the question remains. Was he really a champion or could anybody have been the champion if they were taking what he was taking?”

Do you agree with Teixeira’s comments?