Former UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier took the initiative by relinquishing the UFC 205-pound title before the promotion could strip him of it yesterday.
Talk of a trilogy fight featuring the heavyweight champion against Jon Jones is swirling ahead of Jones’ return against Alexander Gustafsson at tonight’s UFC 232. Many believe it will happen at heavyweight if it does happen. However, “Bones” was quick to shut that down on the UFC 232 weigh-in show on FOX Sports 1 (via MMA Fighting) last night.
“Nah, no. He looks good at heavyweight. He’s designed to be a heavyweight. He’s comfortable there. He naturally goes to heavyweight between every fight. That is his spot, and like I said, he makes a great heavyweight champion. Even before fighting me, he was on a tear at heavyweight. That’s his zone. I have no reason to challenge him at heavyweight, because for me it’s not personal.”
It’s easy to see why Jones would only want to fight Cormier at light heavyweight. He’s beaten him there twice and has ruled over the division for the better part of the last seven years. The only thing standing in Jones’ way of complete dominance, obviously, are his drug-fueled outside-the-cage troubles.
Regardless, Cormier clearly hates Jones and their rivalry is one of the most heated the sport has ever seen. But the feeling isn’t mutual for Jones; at least not until “DC” decides to cut back down to 205 pounds – if he ever does:
“When he comes down to light heavyweight, it’ll be personal again. And he can have what he has, I’ll have what I have, and that’s being the most dominant light heavyweight champion, the only light heavyweight champion since 2011.”
As for all the issues surrounding Jones concerning his drug test trouble, the former champion said he’s not concerned. He’s being tested by USADA and VADA now and feels that he’ll one day be vindicated. He also took a polygraph test to presumably prove his innocence, and stands by that to this day:
“I’m not really worried about all the drug testing stuff,” Jones said. “I’m really excited to have USADA and VADA drug testing me, and at the end of the day, you can ignore facts if you want, but I feel like I will be vindicated at the end of this thing. I really do. I’ve taken a polygraph test and I said that I’ve never intentionally cheated at this sport. I will stand by that. I passed that polygraph test, I believe through time we’ll all get our heads around what this is exactly.”
Complete vindication will be tough to obtain, however, and Jones acknowledged that recently. He can regain his belt by defeating his other rival Gustafsson in California tonight, yet regaining the fans’ trust is going to be an ongoing process that involves much more than one fight.
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