Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
Daniel Cormier may have forged an ever-lasting feud with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones a few years ago, but that doesn’t mean “DC” is holding out for another crack at “Bones.”
Cormier, who is officially 0-1 (1 NC) against Jones, is no longer part of the 205-pound division. After spending the first five years of his UFC career competing at light heavyweight and chasing down Jones the now 40-year-old has a division all to himself. Remember, Cormier moved up to heavyweight in 2018 and defeated Stipe Miocic for the undisputed UFC title, only to lose the belt back to Miocic in a rematch last August.
Still, no matter how many things Cormier accomplishes or how far removed he is from the UFC’s light heavyweight division, his rivalry with Jones will always be part of his career.
“I think that as time passes, things kind of go away,” Cormier said of his feud with Jones earlier this week during a media scrum (h/t MMA Fighting). “We’ve seemed to be on different paths, obviously. But water under the bridge, it will never be.
“I think for a guy like me who’s worked so hard to achieve everything that I’ve done, and honestly, as I said when I won the heavyweight championship, now there’s something so completely outside of that guy, nobody can ever question it.”
“But those things that happened did really bad damage to my career. And it’s easier for them to move on than it is for the person that kind of had the… my career was damaged by those actions. Not his.”
With Jones no longer in the picture Cormier is free to focus on his trilogy bout with Miocic and winning back the UFC heavyweight title. Some fight fans would have loved to see “DC” test his skills against a seemingly mortal Jones one last time, but the former UFC two-division champion is more than happy to fight his last fight at heavyweight.
“I was blessed to have a lot of moments in fighting, and hopefully I got one more in me,” Cormier said. “That’s really all I think about. That’s it. Just one more moment to hoist that belt up over my head like I’ve done on so many occasions.
“I talked to the UFC and we’ve got a pretty clear idea of what we want to do. And now I have to see what the champ says. I don’t make the rules. He’s the champion.
“I respect that, I respect Miocic, and I just hope it happens sooner than later,” he added. “We got an idea what we’re gonna do, and I think it’ll work out.”
With Cormier turning 41 later this month time is of the essence. The former UFC titleholder hasn’t competed in nearly seven months and would truly benefit from a fight with Miocic sooner rather than later. But with Miocic currently getting over a “major retina injury” suffered in his knockout win over Cormier back at UFC 241 we really don’t know when a fight will be booked.
If Miocic experiences any sort of setbacks you better believe the Jones vs. Cormier 3 talks will heat up as the summer approaches.