Daniel Cormier Still Mad At Jon Jones For Cheating: “He Just Can’t Allow Himself To Be As Great As He Is”
Daniel Cormier is still mad at Jon Jones for cheating in their bouts.
Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier had a longstanding rivalry with the former light heavyweight king Jon Jones. The pair clashed on two separate occasions with Jones coming out victorious each time although his wins were tainted by his positive drug tests leading the second result to be declared a no contest.
Daniel Cormier is still mad at Jon Jones
In an appearance on The Pivot Podcast, Cormier expressed his frustrations stemming from Jones’ use of prohibited substances for competition.
“He beats me, gets suspended for the first time,” Cormier said. “Next time, steroids, failed. It’s like every time we fight, and you get suspended, if we go through the interaction, and you won the fight, that memory does not disappear. Even though they said it’s a no contest, (they) saw (me) lose. It’s the truth.
“All he gets is time. Now you get (suspended) 18 months, (but) you still got your money. And you’re still only 25, 26 years old. I’m 37, 38 years old. You’re 27, and you get a year off. It’s horrible, but it’s easy for him to say ‘water under the bridge.’ But for me, it’s like, ‘Man, you did some stuff to my career that never let me settle, because now I don’t know.’” (transcribed by Danny Segura)
“DC” sensed that he may have been inside the cage opposite a better man but wondered if things had been different if fair.
“I could know through the fights that maybe this dude is just better than me,” Cormier said. “But I also know that if you’re not doing the things that are boosting you, can you really work to the level that I’m working? … I can’t let it go. He’s a cheater.”
Cormier believes Jones didn’t live up to his potential
Cormier pointed to Israel Adesanya as a champion who’s fulfilling his potential. According to “DC,” Jones did not live up to his full potential and can only blame himself for that.
“He’s got all these great instincts for fighting, but he just cannot allow himself to be as great as he is,” Cormier said. “That’s the one thing about Israel Adesanya that I said: He is becoming everything that everybody thought Jon Jones was going to be, in terms of expanding the box of what a mixed martial arts fighter can be.
“Because Jones was gonna be the man. If he stayed clean, he would’ve been the man, because people loved him. All athletes loved him and what he did.”
