UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and former champion Jon “Bones” Jones have been going back and forth in their rivalry for some time now. With Jones on the ending precipice of his year long suspension, the two MMA warriors are destined to face each other in the octagon sometime soon.
The two fighters went toe-toe-to at UFC 182, with Jones snagging a unanimous decision victory over his opponent. Still, in a recent interview on The MMA Hour, as transcribed by MMA Fighting, Cormier explained that he thinks Jones needs a rematch more than he does.
“You know, earlier in the week I was like man, I don’t know why he’s hanging around. You know, I said it multiple times, it seems desperate. You can’t even do anything about what you’re talking about at this point right now. You just finished another round of community service, you can’t do anything. He can’t do anything. So, you know, he did annoy me.
“But, my whole thought was, I didn’t want to see him in the arena. I was like, man if I don’t have to see this guy it would be good, and he’s standing next to Luke [Rockhold]. And before every fight I hug Luke, so I was like, or there he is. He’s got a really bad haircut. So that was good. I was like, oh there he is, and he looks like (expletive).” Cormier said about the former champion.
Cormier later revealed that he thinks he is in a good place, a rematch with Jon Jones isn’t his highest priority.
“I’ve got to the point in my life where I’m like, this guy has no control over me. This guy has no control over me anymore. Like, if he can’t never go back and fight me, that’s on him. I’ve got three UFC gold titles. I’ve got everything else. I’ve got my family, I’ve got my money, I’ve got everything — I’ve got my job for the future. I don’t need that guy.
“That guy needs to fight. That guy needs to come back and fight me. Because this thing doesn’t define who I am as a human being. I think Jon Jones, he needs to be Jon Jones the fighter, because there is nothing else. If you take away Jon Jones the fighter, what is there? Jon Jones the college drop out? Jon Jones the guy that actually ran over some chick in his vehicle? Who is he? He needs this to define him. You strip away everything else … there’s layers to who I am. So he needs this more than me. I don’t need him anymore.”
