It’s safe to say Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier don’t like each other. Even a five-round war for the UFC’s light heavyweight crown wasn’t enough to help sever this friendship that was likely never meant to be.
Jones wasn’t just satisfied with dominating his Olympic-level counterpart—he wanted everyone to know that they hadn’t hashed out any of their differences. The animosity, in many ways, continued to breathe.
“I don’t like Daniel Cormier,” Jones said Saturday night on FOX Sports 1. “I don’t respect Daniel Cormier. I hope he’s somewhere crying right now. I’m sure he is. I can’t wait until he earns his way back, so I can whoop him again.”
The men argued. The men fought. The story was over. But then this happened:
And just like that, amid the champion’s earth-shattering announcement on Tuesday, Cormier may have started moving this relationship into the right direction. He told MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani of Jones’ failed drug test:
“I am aware of Jon’s test and if there is anything to say it is this: there are a lot of people you impact, so please let’s get it together. Good luck on your rehab!”
Considering the positive test was conducted outside of competition, Cormier arguably has no reason to be upset. Things might be different, however, if the drug tests conducted during fight week come back with any traces of cocaine metabolites.
Be sure to keep up with Bleacher Report MMA as this story continues to develop.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report MMA. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
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