Jon Jones has a message — or two — for bitter rival Daniel Cormier.
Jones targeted “DC,” the current UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, in a lengthy Instagram post late Thursday night. Jones accused Cormier of not answering phone calls from USADA, the UFC’s anti-doping partner, “because the second you hear them say I’m innocent is the instant the illusion you’ve created shatters.”
“Then it’s all real AGAIN and that’s not a step you’re willing to take,” Jones, who is expected to return to action at the end of the year, wrote. “Instead you wrap yourself in your fake belt and keep telling yourself the shin that slammed into your face and the performance that buried you once again was enhanced.”
Jones has defeated Cormier twice in the UFC, but last year’s rematch was overturned to a no contest after “Bones,” a former longtime 205-pound titleholder, failed a drug test. Their rivalry heated up in late 2014, and they met for the first time in January 2015. Jones beat Cormier by decision to defend his belt.
Months later, Jones was involved in a hit-and-run accident and was subsequently stripped of his title. In May of the same year, Cormier won the vacant title and held onto it until the Jones rematch, when he was knocked out in the third round. But Cormier was reinstated as champ when Jones tested positive.
Jones refers to Cormier’s light heavyweight title as “fake” because Jones has never lost the title in the cage, but instead due to issues outside of actual competition, such as the hit-and-run and the positive drug test.
“The fact you can’t beat me kills you and it stops you from picking up that phone,” Jones wrote. “If you answer it then the nightmare becomes reality.”
Jones’ USADA case was just settled last week. Jones, widely considered as one of the pound-for-pound greats in MMA, was given a 15-month suspension after an arbitrator determined he did not knowingly use a banned substance. Jones is eligible to return as early as Oct. 28, but is targeted to face Alexander Gustafsson in a long-awaited rematch at UFC 232 in late December. The UFC initially wanted to book Jones vs. Cormier 3 for the heavyweight title, but it did not come to fruition.
Despite Jones’ planned fight against Gustafsson, he seems keen on a Cormier trilogy down the road. Of course, there isn’t much time for that to happen if Jones does indeed face Gustafsson at the end of the year, as Cormier is expected to defend his heavyweight title against Brock Lesnar in 2019 and is planning to retire next March.
“Maybe you do pick up (the phone), accept the truth that you were defeated by a superior fighter and that gives you peace,” Jones wrote. “Or it goes another way and you get motivated to try a third time and that will save me the hassle of having to dig you up before I bury you.
“So now that the illusion you’ve built is crumbling and the ‘violation was not intended nor could it have enhanced the athlete’s performance’ you still have to tell yourself something yeah? And while there was ‘absolutely no intention to use prohibited substances,’ it was my intention to kick your ass once again. Mission accomplished. Pick up the phone #letstalkaboutit.”
Jones’ attack on Cormier stems from a recent tweet from the two-division champ. Last week, Cormier said on UFC Tonight that it was no longer necessary for USADA to test him, as he has never failed a drug test throughout years of competition in both MMA and wrestling. And on Wednesday, Cormier told the association to stop calling him.
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