When UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier came to the decision that he was officially moving on from Jon Jones, he was quite serious. This week that fact was put to the test and thus far, D.C. isn’t budging.
As noted, “Bones” Jones had the MMA community buzzing when seemingly out of nowhere, he announced that he is “expecting to be back in the Octagon really soon.” Following the statement from the former UFC 205-pound champion, which he made over the weekend, UFC President Dana White had fans even deeper in shock when he basically co-signed the statement, while adding at least some level of details to explain how that could even be possible after Jones tested positive for two banned substances by USADA, which ultimately led to him being pulled from his scheduled rematch to unify the UFC 205-pound titles against Cormier in the main event of the historic UFC 200 pay-per-view in early July.
While Jones seems convinced and even White would re-reference the subject in a different interview with ESPN where he pointed out his belief that Jones “has like 12 lives, it’s unbelievable,” before adding that, “things are looking up for him.”
Regardless of whether or not Jones dodges another bullet and avoids a potential career-altering two-year mandatory suspension, reigning UFC 205-pound champ Cormier has gone on the record in stating that even if Jones gets off the hook, he is still not going to fight him, but will instead continue on as planned and defend his title against the winner of the fan-friendly Anthony “Rumble” Johnson vs. Glover Teixeira co-featured bout at this Saturday’s UFC 202 pay-per-view.
“Why would I sue USADA,” questioned Cormier in response to a fan in a new tweet posted on Tuesday after White’s comments. “Jon did take something. Just something different than originally thought.”
Just a couple of hours later, D.C. resurfaced on Twitter again to publicly declare that he is still officially moved on from Jon Jones, and that he still intends to defend his title against the winner of Saturday’s Johnson-Teixeira bout.
“I’m fighting [the] winner of Glover vs. Rumble,” he wrote in the brief follow-up tweet. “Don’t care how this plays out.”
Why would I sue USADA. Jon did take something. Just something different than originally thought https://t.co/bi3Miys5uC
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) August 16, 2016
I'm fighting winner of glover vs rumble. Don't care how his plays out. https://t.co/PvELdtG3kl
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) August 16, 2016