UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is exhausted just by the mere idea of a third fight with rival Jon Jones.
Right after his first title defense as the reinstated UFC light heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier could not help but point back to his rivalry with Jon Jones. It may have been a low point in his life, but for “DC”, it just made his UFC 220 victory over Volkan Oezdemir a sweet one to enjoy.
“I’ve been through a lot,” Cormier told Joe Rogan during his Octagon interview. “I go through a lot of stuff, man, and it’s because of my greatest rival. But it feels good to get back in here and get a victory.”
Cormier, however, is not too keen on the idea of a third fight with Jon Jones, as of the moment.
“I’m just past it right now,” Cormier said during his post-fight press conference (transcript via MMAjunkie). “Until he’s able to do what we want to do, and that’s fight, I’m kind of past it.”
“I’m kind of a bit of this spot when it comes to Jones. Competitively, all I want to do is fight him again. But at some point, it’s just like, ‘Man, is it ever going to be just a fight without nothing else?’”
Cormier admits that the emotional rollercoaster he had been through during the build-up of both Jones fights took a toll on him, and he refuses to be sucked into everything again.
“I don’t know if I can put myself through that again. I’ve done everything right,” he said. “And I’ve just been dragged down by this guy constantly. So I’m not thinking about it. I’m going to do my thing for right now.”
From his end, Jones is expecting to bounce back strong after his second PED-related infraction in the UFC.
Thanks brother, my best is yet to come https://t.co/mlaIFAUfeo
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) January 21, 2018
Cormier, now 38 years of age, has begun to contemplate retirement and is looking at 2018 as his last fighting year.