Islam Makhachev Challenges Jon Jones' Legacy
Islam Makhachev is not ready to bow to Jon Jones.
Fresh off setting a new UFC record for consecutive wins, the lightweight king has drawn a hard line in the greatest-of-all-time debate, arguing that Jones’ chequered anti-doping history disqualifies his famed unbeaten run from true comparison.
Makhachev (29-1 MMA, 18-1 UFC) pushed his streak to 17 straight UFC victories in August when he defended his welterweight title against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330, breaking the long-standing mark of 16 held by Anderson Silva. For more than a decade, Silva’s run stood as the gold standard. Now it belongs to the Dagestani champion.
Not everyone sees it that way.
Many point straight to Jon Jones. The former light heavyweight and current heavyweight champion owns a staggering 20-fight stretch without a loss dating back to December 2009. On paper, that dwarfs Makhachev’s streak. The run, though, includes a no contest from his July 2017 rematch with Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 — a fight Jones initially won by knockout before the result was overturned after a failed drug test.
That detail is exactly where Makhachev plants his flag.
"I'm not denying that Jon Jones is one of the greatest athletes in history," Makhachev told Ushatayka in Russian. "But he was caught doping twice, and I think that's why his 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."
The implication is blunt: in Makhachev’s eyes, Jones’ legendary run carries an asterisk, and any comparison between their streaks has to start with that.
The pushback will be just as blunt. Critics will immediately point to Makhachev’s own anti-doping history, highlighting his 2016 test failure and branding his stance as hypocrisy. That episode, though, has since been publicly reframed by the UFC’s own anti-doping chief.
In May 2024, when Makhachev received his jacket for completing 50 clean tests in the program, UFC senior vice president of anti-doping compliance Jeff Novitzky described the 2016 result as "one of the greatest, colossal mistakes in anti-doping." It was a rare, emphatic admission in a sport where such controversies often linger for years.
So the argument over records becomes more than a numbers game. It turns into a battle over legitimacy, over whose résumé stands untouched by suspicion. Makhachev has chosen to step directly into that fire, fully aware of the counterpunch coming his way.
What’s not in dispute is his current form. The win over Machado Garry at UFC 330 did more than bank another defence of his 170-pound belt. It cemented his place at the top of the modern pound-for-pound conversation and gave him a statistical foothold in the GOAT debate he’s now willing to engage in publicly.
The champion is not lingering on the milestone for long. After UFC 330, Makhachev made it clear he wants to be back in the octagon quickly, targeting a return in January or even sooner. That plan hinges on the results of a recent MRI, which will determine whether any injuries from his latest title defence slow his momentum.
If the scans come back clean, the man with the longest official win streak in UFC history will stride back into a cage where every fight now carries a double weight: another title defence, and another piece of ammunition in a debate that shows no sign of cooling.
