Daniel Cormier initially criticised Jon Jones for his win over Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232, but the former Olympian was much more level-headed on last Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.
Speaking to Luke Thomas, ‘DC’ credited ‘Bones’ for the win and hailed the newly-crowned UFC light heavyweight champion as a ‘phenomenal mixed martial artist.’ Jones, who beat Cormier at UFC 182 and UFC 214 (latter win overturned to a No Contest after Jones tested positive for PEDs), TKO’d Gustafsson in the third round to claim the vacant light heavyweight title.
“Anytime you can go through a guy like Alexander Gustafsson in the fashion that he did is very impressive,” Cormier said of Jones, per MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti. “I have never shied away from the fact that the guy’s a phenomenal mixed martial artist, and I thought he fought well. I thought he fought well, he fought exactly as he intended to and was able to completely shut down Alex.”
As one of the most controversial stars in the sport, question marks loom over Jones’ legitimacy as champion. The former pound-for-pound No. 1 has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs three times in the last three years, but Cormier believes his arch rival was always destined for greatness.
“If you’re asking me if I feel Jon Jones would’ve worn a UFC title without any of these things (PEDs), I do, 100 percent, believe he would’ve won a UFC title,” Cormier said. “I think that he’s a very talented guy. He comes from the sport of wrestling, so he has that baseline for dictating where fights take place. With that being said, those things are done for a reason, right? You don’t have all these issues with the testing unless you have either doubts or something in your preparation over the course of your athletic career didn’t truly add up. That’s the only way you would get these types of things tied to your career.
“But do I feel the guy would’ve been successful without it? Yes, I do. I think he definitely would’ve been a UFC champion, and even without all this stuff that’s tied to the fights, I think he could’ve won those fights to me anyways. I think he’s a very talented guy. And I still believe I could beat the guy, even though I’ve lost a couple times, but again, I think that’s what makes me different, is that regardless of — every time I walked on that mat against Cael Sanderson, losing every time, I still felt that every time I went out there: ‘This is the one I’m going to win.’ I never didn’t give myself a chance, and that’s how I feel with Jones.”
Jones most recently tested positive for trace amounts of oral turinabol, but the United States Anti-Doping Agency saw no reason to suspend the Jackson-Wink product, claiming that the trace amounts were the leftovers of his previously failed drug test from 2017.
Cormier would like Jones to move up in weight to challenge him for the heavyweight title, but the current light heavyweight champ doesn’t seem interested. Instead, Jones will go on to defend his LHW strap against Anthony Smith at UFC 235, while it’s expected that Cormier will welcome Brock Lesnar back to the Octagon sometime in the new year.