It looks like UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones isn’t even a little intrigued about a possible showdown with Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier.
When MMA Junkie asked the champ what he thought about “DC’s” plans to drop down to 205 pounds and call for a title shot if he beats Roy Nelson at UFC 166 this fall, Jones went off on the undefeated prospect.
DC is a guy who really wants to be famous. I don’t think he wants to work hard. I think he just wants to be famous. You can see it in his physique; you can see it in his card… He’s trying to get his Twitter followers up, that’s about it… I hate answering questions about him. He’s just not relevant to me. There’s so many great fighters in the light heavyweight division. He’s not even top five in his division. I’m not sure if he is… He has short reach, bad cardio (and) he looked terrible in his last fight. It’s like, I’m not worried about him at all.
Cormier made his Octagon debut at UFC on FOX 7 in April, winning a clear-cut, albeit heavily criticized, unanimous decision victory over former UFC heavyweight titleholder Frank Mir.
With the win, the former Olympic-level wrestler improved his professional mixed martial arts record to a perfect 12-0.
Furthermore, according to the UFC’s official rankings, Cormier is the No. 2 heavyweight fighter in the world, behind only upcoming title challenger Junior dos Santos and current champion Cain Velasquez, a friend and teammate of Cormier.
Velasquez and Cormier have stated on various occasions that they would never fight each other, which is why the Strikeforce import has been entertaining a light heavyweight title run since early this year.
UFC President Dana White has been non-committal about a potential Jones-Cormier title fight, recently telling Ariel Helwani that he wants to wait and see the outcomes of Cormier vs. Nelson and Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson, the headlining bout of UFC 165 this September (via MMA Fighting).
As it looks now, Jones has no interest in a potential showdown with Cormier anytime soon. Would this still be a matchup the fans are interested in seeing?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
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