Daniel Cormier Teases Jon Jones Trilogy At 205 For Retirement Fight
A lot has been changing in UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier’s world lately.
His plan to fight former champ Brock Lesnar in a massive PPV spectacle in his retirement fight fell apart when Lesnar retired last week. News soon came that Cormier would rematch Stipe Miocic in the main event of August’s UFC 241 instead.
That could be the 40-year-old Cormier’s last fight of his historic mixed martial arts (MMA) career. But the shadow of his controversial rivalry with light heavyweight champ Jon Jones would always hang over his head if that were the case. Speaking on the rivalry during today’s “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show,” Cormier revealed the Jones trilogy bout would be the only fight he’s willing to stick around for after fighting Miocic again.
Cormier said it would have to be at 205 pounds as well so he could get his formerly-held title back:
“It all I want. If I do stick around, that would be the fight that I would do it for. It would be at 205 pounds because I need to go and get that back from him.”
One Last Fight For Daniel Cormier
The trilogy has been a hot topic in MMA since Jones controversially returned at last December’s UFC 232 to regain the title by dominating Alexander Gustafsson. “Bones” moved on to dominate Anthony Smith at UFC 235 in March. He’ll now defend the title again against Thiago Santos in the main event of July 6’s UFC 239 from Las Vegas.
Cormier will defend his belt the following month. Jones will have to win at UFC 239 to keep their rivalry alive. But no matter what happens in Cormier vs. Miocic, the rivalry between “DC” and Jones will always have legs. It has since their infamous press conference brawl in the summer of 2014.
There’s no more fitting a bout for ‘DC’s’ retirement fight than a final fight for the 205-pound gold against ‘Bones.’ Let’s hope the sport gets to witness that one more time after all they’ve been through as heated opponents.
