Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones is a one of the more compelling potential fights in the UFC and the two men have been chirping about each other quite a bit in the media as of late. It’s a strange situation with Cormier as one of the top heavyweight contenders but thinking about dropping to light heavyweight and Jones as the top light heavyweight in the sport considering an eventual move to heavyweight.
Cormier was on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani earlier this week and spoke about his prior run-ins with Jones as well as the recent shots each an has taken.
Dave Meltzer has the story at MMA Fighting:
Cormier was in the back for the Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez fight and he’s kind of looking around and he said Jones said to him, “You look like a wrestler.”
Cormier, who had come off being the captain of the U.S. Olympic wrestling team in 2008, responded, “I’m probably the best wrestler you’ve seen.”
Jones, who had not yet won the light heavyweight title, but was on the fast track toward being one of the youngest champions, then said, “Well, maybe you get the cauliflower ear on the other side and maybe you can get a takedown against me,”
Cormier found the whole thing insulting.
“When you were in high school, I was on the Olympic team,” Cormier said about the incident to Ariel Helwani on Wednesday’s MMA Hour. “You should know your Olympians.”
Jones recently blew off talk of the two fighting with some rather insulting statements, which Cormier responded to on The MMA Hour, making it clear that he’ll call out Jones for a title shot after his bout with Roy Nelson:
“Daniel Cormier is a guy who really wants to be famous,” said Jones. “I don’t think he wants to work hard. I just think he just wants to be famous. You can see it in his physique. You can see it in his cardio. He’s just trying to get his Twitter followers up. That’s about it. He’s not relevant to me. He’s not even in the top five in his division. I don’t think he’s got 20,000 Twitter followers. He’s got short reach, bad cardio, he looked terrible in his last fight. I’m not worried about him.”
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“I think it’s part of the game,” Cormier said when asked if he thinks Jones was serious about what he said, as opposed to trying to build up a fight. “I never came out and said I’m the most ripped guy in MMA. I’m not. I haven’t cut weight in years. I haven’t tried to cut weight in years. I haven’t tried to diet in years. I clean up a little in training camp, but I’ve never tried to be the most ripped guy, so that kind of stuff doesn’t bother me. I just don’t like him saying I don’t want to work hard. He hasn’t spent a day in the gym with me. He doesn’t know my schedule. I know I’m training. It takes a big statement to say that about someone who has accomplished what I’ve accomplished. You don’t just come out of Louisiana, where there is no wrestling, to become a two-time Olympian in wrestling.”
“It’s almost shocking that someone in his position could be so petty,” said Cormier. “It was almost like, wow, we’re adults.
“Three points I want to make here. First, Twitter followers. He made mention of that two times in that statement. I don’t understand what that plays into an actual fight. It makes no sense in a fight. Two, how would you like to be Jon Jones’ friend? He says Frank Mir is his friend. He said I was terrible in the fight, and I beat his friend. What are you saying about your friend? Third, it’s petty. Answer the question and get through with it. He never completely answered the question. Do you want to fight me or do you not want to fight me?”
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