Daniel Cormier Didn’t Give 100% In First Fight Against Jones
From expletive remarks being exchanged between one another, to a stare-down gone wrong resulting in a hotel brawl, capped off by a crotch chop at the conclusion of their initial five round war last January, UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones have engaged in one of the most pure rivalries MMA fans have seen in a long time.
The two 205-pound studs were finally given the opportunity to settle their differences in their thunderous main event clash at UFC 182 last January, that saw the then-champion Jones having his hand raised when it was all said and done with a unanimous decision victory.
Since then Jones has experienced some out-of-competition troubles which led to the stripping of his light heavyweight title, and over a year-long-layoff from the sport itself.
Jones and Cormier were initially scheduled to rematch at UFC 197 this past April, however, ‘DC’ was forced to pull out of the highly-anticipated contest due to an unfortunate injury suffered in training camp.
Now the former Olympian is at 100% health and is ready to get a second crack at Jones in the summer’s biggest stage in MMA, and in a recent interview with Yahoo Sports, Cormier detailed the depressing events that transpired following his heartbreaking loss to Jones over a year ago:
“I was so, so sad after the fight,” Cormier told Yahoo Sports. “Bob Cook is a guy who has invested a tremendous amount of time in me. I lived in his house, drove his car for a year-and-a-half as I was trying to become a mixed martial artist.
He’s the closest thing I have to a mentor and a guide in this sport. I don’t know if you’ve ever had the job of trying to console someone in a very tough moment. People will pat you on the back and say, ‘Hey, DC, great fight.’ They’ll put an arm around your shoulder and just listen.
Bob didn’t do that. He didn’t let me get patted on the back. He walked right up to me and stopped me in the hallway [as I was going to the locker room].
He said to me, ‘Daniel, normally I get a better fighter in the Octagon than I do in the gym. Today I did not.’ He said, ‘You lost and he beat you, but that’s OK. The problem is, you didn’t even fight. That wasn’t even close to the best Daniel Cormier.’
It stung to hear that from a man who has done so much for me,” Cormier said. “I let him down. If I’d have given 110 percent, he’d have told me that I gave 110 percent. But he told me I didn’t give 110 percent. Those words at that moment, while I was at my moment, meant a lot. He didn’t sugarcoat anything.
He made a very important point. It was like, yeah you lost, but you don’t need to fight like you’re eating at the best place at the Ritz Carlton. Just fight like you’re eating at the Outback Steakhouse and you’ll beat this guy.”
While Jones may have been Cormier’s only loss in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career, the AKA product is no stranger to losing as he’s experienced the feeling throughout his days in the wrestling circuit.
Cormier claims that the men that defeated him in wrestling were just simply better in every aspect than he was, as he would give 110% in those contests. Jones is a different story, however, as he feels he didn’t give ‘Bones’ his all in their original bout and is looking forward to finding out just who the better man is at UFC 200:
“You know, there were guys I lost to in wrestling, Cael Sanderson, Khadzimurat Gatsalov, those types of guys, there were times I wrestled as well as I could and I couldn’t win,” Cormier said. “The simple fact was that those guys were better. It’s not like they were better in one thing; they were better in everything.
They were just better than me and if I fought my best and they fought their best, they were going to win. But I don’t feel the same way about Jon.
This guy is not unbeatable. He’s not. He’s a talented fighter and he’s got a great record, but he’s not unbeatable. Look: If I go to UFC 200 and I fight as well as I can and he still wins, I’ll say Jon’s better.
But I don’t feel I need to fight a perfect fight. I don’t have to do that. But the last time, I didn’t fight very well at all, fought just in spurts, and we went five rounds. I understand how it went the first time, but I honestly believe that this is not an insurmountable task for me.
It’s not. And I’ll be honest with you: I don’t think I’m going to win. I know I am. I know now that I don’t have to be perfect to win, and that’s a huge difference from the last time.”
Jones and Cormier are set to collide in the main event of UFC 200 live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 8, 2016.
