Daniel Cormier: 'There's good' in Jon Jones, but he's not quite ready to bury the hatchet
"He's not quite ready, so we don't need to force him. He's ready, but he's not quite ready yet."
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Daniel Cormier doesn’t see a sit down with Jon Jones happening just yet.
Cormier and Jones were part of one of the biggest rivalries in UFC history and shared the octagon on two occasions. The bitter rivals continued to trade barbs past their fights, but things appeared to take a positive turn in the lead-up to Jones’ return against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 earlier this month.
Jones said he thinks he and Cormier actually would make good friends and trusted that Cormier wouldn’t be biased when he commentated his fight. Jones quickly submitted Gane to capture the heavyweight title, but the guillotine choke against the fence had Cormier confused as to what actually happened – which Jones wasn’t buying.
“My man couldn’t even pretend to smile, it was pretty funny. Asking what happened, an experience former champion and analyst suddenly not being able to identify a guillotine.
“
My man couldn’t even pretend to smile, it was pretty funny. Asking what happened, an experience former champion and analyst suddenly not being able to identify a guillotine.
https://t.co/dgqcqdCO34
— BONY (@JonnyBones) March 9, 2023
Cormier dismissed those notions, but said Jones’ reaction is very telling.
“I wasn’t mad, though,” Cormier said on Henry Cejudo’s YouTube channel. “Everybody’s acting like I was mad that he won. When he was finishing Ciryl, his back was to me and my reaction was the same reaction as (Joe) Rogan. But because of our history, it is like, ‘Oh, DC’s mad.’ And then (Jones) says, ‘Dude couldn’t even force a smile.’ That tells you he’s ready, but he’s not quite ready, so we don’t need to force him. He’s ready, but he’s not quite ready yet.
“That’s where the difference between you and Demetrious (Johnson is). We talked about each other’s families, but in the darkest moments, when his mother passed, when my father passed, he sent me a message. He really did. And even in that moment, I appreciated that for all that we’ve been through. I appreciated him sending me that message as I sent the message for his mother because we understand what family is.”
Cormier credits Jones for elevating his star level, and thinks there’s a good side to him – he just hasn’t been able to properly see it. But if there’s one person he expects to mediate, it’s Cejudo, who helped Jones prep for UFC 285.
“There’s good in that dude,” Cormier added. “There really is. There’s good in that dude. I just ain’t really had the opportunity to see it. But we’ll see. We’ll see what time brings. And if the time brings it, then yeah, we’ll make sure that you’re around to help. You better, if we start fighting with each other. You just better be OK to f*cking stop it. I don’t think you can stop it. But there is good in that dude. You’ve got to just be able to get to it.
“But I think that right now for us to (sit down together) – I think Jones and I being on the phone like we were for the (pre-fight analysts’) meeting and then not yelling and cussing and hurling insults at each other, that’s a positive step. In that positive step, that’s enough because I don’t really have anything to release. I’ve moved on. We never know what time brings, but when it does, we’ll do it on your YouTube channel, not mine.”