The build-up to Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier 1 was one of a kind.
Jones and Cormier’s highly anticipated encounter was originally set to take place at UFC 178 in September 2014 after Alexander Gustafsson was forced out of a rematch against Jones with an injury. Ultimately, “Bones” suffered a leg injury that postponed the Cormier match up until UFC 182 in January 2015.
Before reaching fight night, however, Jones and Cormier squared off inside the lobby of the MGM Grand Garden Arena for a promotional staredown. Hell broke loose almost instantly when the pair of Light Heavyweight combatants went head-to-head (literally), resulting in a scuffle with shoes — and Dave Sholler — going flying. Reflecting on the moment all these years later, Cormier says he almost went full-on vampire mode against his heated rival.
“When I was in that press fight with Jon Jones, I was still undefeated at the time, and we were at the MGM Grand, and he head-butted me, like put his head on me,” Cormier said on The Joe Rogan Experience (h/t MMA Fighting). “So, I push him. He’s an alpha male too. So, the f—ker attacks me.
“So we get to fighting, and we’re fighting, and Joe, the security guard from the UFC, falls under me,” he continued. “But now I’m on my back as we go flying off the stage. I will say, there was a thought to bite the motherf—ker, because, what am I doing on my back, right?”
Unfortunately for Cormier, on his back was where he wound up in the fight as well. Jones went on to defeat the future dual-division champion via a unanimous decision at UFC 182. The pair rematched two years later at UFC 214 in July 2017, where Jones initially earned a second round head kick and punches knockout win before he tested positive for turinabol. The result was overturned to a no contest as a result, sending the Light Heavyweight title back into the possession of “DC.”
As much of a huge story as the scuffle was at the time, a bite from Cormier would have been quite the icing on the cake.
“I’m losing,” Cormier said of the brawl. “I’m going to bite the son of a b—ch. I don’t have any mouthpiece in my mouth. And if I would have bit him, that would have been a reaction for a guy that usually will walk around in most places in this world as the alpha, and then when he finds himself on the bottom, as an alpha, he’s got to find a way to survive.
“If I would have bit [Jones], you’d have been like, ‘DC bit him,’ but it’s not the first time we saw somebody bite a motherf—ker down there, because Mike Tyson did it three times,” he concluded. “It’s so unfamiliar.”