Jon Jones Wants To Beat Up DC, Face ‘Rumble’ At MSG
Jon Jones was reluctant to shy away from words Wednesday afternoon at the UFC 200 press conference in New York. The confident interim light heavyweight champion has already made plans following his self-expected UFC 200 win against rival Daniel Cormier:
“I’d love to beat up DC and face Anthony Johnson at Madison Square Garden.”
Jones then stated that Cormier’s confidence is not falsely placed, and that the Olympian should be confident coming into their blockbuster bout:
“DC should have a lot of confidence. Outside of me he’s the next best thing. He can beat these other guys but he can’t beat me.”
‘Bones’ also brought up comments the champion made prior to their first bout in January of last year:
“DC has been lying to you guys for a long time now. DC told you guys, and I quote, ‘I’ll take Jon Jones down 10 times out of 10 times if I wanna take him down”. So far we’re five to zero, me.”
Jones then proceeded to mock and tease the champion:
“I foot swept you and held my hand on your head like you’re my bitch. And this guy is supposed to be the Olympian? Come on man”
Cormier repeatedly referenced Jones as a ‘bum’ and teased him about his drug abuse and legal troubles. Jones was quick to respond to the champion by referencing his dominating victory over him at UFC 182:
“You call me a bum, I beat you four rounds to one. Your not even my toughest opponent. Your chump change”, said Jones. “Im the bum that took your undefeated record. I had you cryin’.”
Jones credited himself as being a true mixed martial artist, as opposed to his adversary who he mentioned as a “wrestler who learned how to punch”.
Personal matters seemed to play a huge role in Jones’ disappointing performance last Saturday, as ‘Bones’ admitted to a number of troubles that have affected him this month:
“My last fight you know, I had a lot of stuff stacked up against me man. A lot of you guys don’t really realize whats going on in my personal life right now”, Jones explained.
“My mom is in a real bad position, she’s really losing a fight to diabetes right now. She got her leg cut off the same week of my fight, and that really messed with me a lot. I was in jail the same month of my fight, just going through a lot of stuff man.”
Jones also responded to criticisms of his poor performance against Ovince St-Preux in last Saturday night’s pay-per-view bout:
“I hadn’t fought in over fifteen months, and you know everyone is talking about my performance being so bad. I got punched twice, I won by unanimous decision.
If thats a bad performance, look at the level people expect from me, it’s not a bad problem to have. I went out there, I didn’t feel comfortable in the octagon and I still absolutely dominated that fight.””
Jones is one-hundred precent confident that on July 9th, in the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, he will beat Daniel Cormier in what is perhaps the biggest card in the promotion’s history:
“I believe I am going to annihilate DC. So far it’s all I’ve ever done, to pretty much every opponent. Alexander Gustafsson is the only person that had a competitive fight with me. So when I sit here and tell you I’m going to annihilate DC, people who don’t believe me, just wait and see”
“Expect to see a hell of a lot more out of me this next fight, I have a strong strategy for DC”, he said. “You guys will see, and new, absolutely.”