“I am not friends with those whom my friends are not friends.” Simple, right? That’s the rule Khabib Nurmagomedov laid out when asked about Jon Jones. No need for overthinking, if Daniel Cormier doesn’t like you, the former lightweight juggernaut doesn’t either. That’s how the world has understood the Jon Jones-Dagestan relationship. But is there an understory?

Turns out, when you get past the public face of things, some in the Dagestan circle have a different perspective on the consensus MMA GOAT. And one of them, Vagab Vagabov, just gave a brutally honest take on Jones’ training habits. “Jones shows the highest level he shows in fights. But in the gym, he misses,” Vagabov said, before dropping a line that should make Jones fans squirm. “He misses overhands, he missed chokes a couple of times. Catches himself too, good chokes.”

For the uninitiated, this hard-nosed Dagestani boxer spent two weeks training with the heavyweight champ in 2016 before Jones’s grappling bout with another UFC legend Dan Henderson at Submission Underground 2. “His [Jones] anthropometry is crazy. Uncomfortable. We were all working a little bit of an understanding in there. He’s got a level, of course, you can feel it.” What Vagabov saw? A very different version of the man many call the greatest of all time.

For years, we’ve heard how Jones is a step ahead of everyone, a master tactician who sees things before they happen. But inside the gym? According to Vagabov, not so much. “We didn’t do any heavy sparring. If we had, he would have fallen anyway. No kidding, he misses in the gym,” he added. “They don’t fight in the gym, they work softer than we do.”

Now, this raises a question, was the heavyweight champ just taking it easy, or does this reveal something deeper? Because if he’s really out here getting caught in chokes and missing shots, that ‘GOAT’ status starts to sound a little shaky, more like “poke, poke, soft,” as Vagabov puts it.

Is Jon Jones’ GOAT status shifting with Islam’s rise & Dana’s adjustments?

Speaking of the GOAT debate, there’s been an interesting shift recently. For years, Dana White has been Jones’ biggest hype man. “Greatest of all time is Jon Jones,” he used to say, without hesitation. But that tune has changed ever so slightly. Why? Islam Makhachev’s glorious UFC 311 title defense.

Makhachev has not only been reigning as lightweight champ but has also taken the No. 1 spot in the pound-for-pound rankings (even in Dana’s mind), something even Jones hasn’t been able to reclaim. And while the head honcho still acknowledges Jones’ legacy, he’s had to do a bit of verbal gymnastics lately, acknowledging that Islam is building something special.

‘Bones’, essentially undefeated (except for that infamous DQ which was not legal in 2009), has dominated for over a decade. But let’s be real, if dominance alone decided the GOAT debate, Khabib would still be in the conversation. Instead, it’s Islam, Khabib’s protege, who’s carrying the Dagestani flag, while Jones watches from the sidelines, waiting to return from injury, dodging Tom Aspinall, calling out Alex Pereira, and getting pacified by Dana with a fat paycheck to keep his tantrums in check.

This all circles back to Vagabov’s comments. Jones has always had that ‘untouchable’ aura, the guy who solves every puzzle inside the Octagon. But if what happens in the gym matters, and let’s be honest, it does, then there’s a crack in the foundation. Maybe it’s just a different training philosophy.

Maybe Jones plays it safe in the gym to avoid injuries. Or maybe, the legend isn’t quite as bulletproof as he seems. And if Vagabov could catch him, could someone like the interim heavyweight king or even ‘Poatan’ do the same when the stakes are real? So, what do you think? Does it even matter if Jones struggles in the gym as long as he shows up on fight night? Or is this a sign that the gap between him and the rest of the MMA world isn’t as wide as it once was? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!