Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
For Daniel Cormier, the beef with Jon Jones will never be squashed.
Through the heated build-ups for two fights, Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier could easily be one of the most notable rivalries in history. And after winning both contests, Jones recently put his rift with Cormier to bed.
However, the same cannot be said for Cormier, who has taken things more personally.
“I think that as time passes, things kind of go away,” Cormier said after being recognized as the second fighter in the roster to surpass 50 USADA tests. “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.”
At this point in his career, Cormier made it clear that he no longer wants to drop back down to 205 pounds. Nowadays, he only has his sights set on reclaiming the heavyweight title from Stipe Miocic.
“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.”
Cormier, who turns 41 in two weeks, dropped the title to Miocic via fourth round TKO last August at UFC 241.