There is something about Jon Jones that seems to unearth a whole other side to Daniel Cormier.
After enduring years of competition as an amateur wrestler, the 35-year-old former Olympian has grown adept in dealing with various personalities in a calm a…
There is something about Jon Jones that seems to unearth a whole other side to Daniel Cormier.
After enduring years of competition as an amateur wrestler, the 35-year-old former Olympian has grown adept in dealing with various personalities in a calm and subdued manner. But Jones has quickly become the one anomaly to the peaceful rivalries of Cormier’s past.
During a media event in August, an all-out brawl broke out during an intense staredown between the two light heavyweights in the MGM Grand lobby in Las Vegas. The infamous drama that unfolded that day culminated into a large dog pile onto the lobby floor, a flying shoe and UFC senior director of public relations Dave Sholler getting tossed into the set backdrop.
While the media incident managed to snag headlines, it was the off-air verbal exchanges between Jones and Cormier on the set of ESPN’s SportsCenter afterwards that really set the tone for MMA’s hottest new rivalry.
Looking back, Cormier admitted that he wasn’t proud of the way things unfolded, but his genuine dislike for Jones forced his hand.
On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Cormier explained that there are just certain things beyond a fighter’s control when a feud is real:
It’s pretty cringe-worthy, actually, because you don’t really want to present yourself in that way. Jon and I, above all, we’re family men and we’re fathers. We’ve got kids. So you don’t really want to be portrayed like that because that’s not who we are at the bottom of it. But sometimes, when it’s real and you have a genuine dislike for someone, you can’t control it.
Some of the behind-the-scenes comments were so extreme that Cormier even hinted at crossing a line of some sort.
“It was bad,” Cormier admitted. “It was very insulting to him, and I said some things that I’m not proud of. I’m pretty sure he said some things he’s not proud of.”
The Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled on a hefty fine and community service as a suitable punishment for both fighters for their involvement in the media scuffle.
Despite the commission’s wrist slap, the ongoing drama between Jones and Cormier has played out wonderfully in the media. The MGM Grand incident and SportsCenter quotes have drawn more attention and interest to an already eagerly anticipated fight.
It’s moments like these that serve only to remind fans that MMA, like any other combat sport, will always be a sport with a flair for theatrics. People will always love a good fight between world-class athletes. Now combine that with a good storyline and real emotions. It’s a surefire recipe for a pay-per-view blockbuster.
The UFC has a bona fide blockbuster on its hands on January 3, when Jones and Cormier return to the MGM Grand Garden Arena to finish what they started back in August.
Only this time there won’t be any security around to break things up.
JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
Today was Judgement Day for a trio of misbehaving UFC stars, as the Nevada State Athletic Commission held a disciplinary hearing today to address the infamous Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormiermedia day brawl in August, as well as Wanderlei Silva‘s equally-infamous dodging of a random drug test in May. Let’s get the important stuff out of the way first — the punishments:
– Jon Jones was fined $50,000 for his role in the brawl, which is 10% of his disclosed purse for his upcoming fight against Cormier in January. He will also be required to complete 40 hours of community service in Las Vegas; Jones is not psychedabout that part, as he feels it will impact his training for the fight.
– Daniel Cormier was fined $9,000, which is 10% of his disclosed purse for his upcoming fight against Jones. Cormier will be required to complete 20 hours of community service in his hometown of San Jose, CA. The Nevada Commission felt that Cormier had less responsibility in the brawl — despite the fact that Cormier made first contact — and gave DC a smaller community service requirement as a result.
Today was Judgement Day for a trio of misbehaving UFC stars, as the Nevada State Athletic Commission held a disciplinary hearing today to address the infamous Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormiermedia day brawl in August, as well as Wanderlei Silva‘s equally-infamous dodging of a random drug test in May. Let’s get the important stuff out of the way first — the punishments:
– Jon Jones was fined $50,000 for his role in the brawl, which is 10% of his disclosed purse for his upcoming fight against Cormier in January. He will also be required to complete 40 hours of community service in Las Vegas; Jones is not psychedabout that part, as he feels it will impact his training for the fight.
– Daniel Cormier was fined $9,000, which is 10% of his disclosed purse for his upcoming fight against Jones. Cormier will be required to complete 20 hours of community service in his hometown of San Jose, CA. The Nevada Commission felt that Cormier had less responsibility in the brawl — despite the fact that Cormier made first contact — and gave DC a smaller community service requirement as a result.
Here’s what else you missed, if you didn’t watch the Fight Pass stream…
Jon Jones claimed that his brawl with Cormier cost him a six-figure sponsorship with Nike, as well as another potential six-figure sponsorship that he and his lawyer wouldn’t name. Cormier said that some of the kids in his wrestling program left because of the brawl. Advantage: Jones.
Jones apologized to the commission, to the fans and to the sports of wrestling, Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu and boxing as well as the “great sport of MMA.”
Jones told the commission that he had planned to make forehead to forehead contact with Cormier that he had made with other fighters Rashad Evans, Brandon Vera and others. He said that when Cormier touched his throat he felt he had to respond to show he was still champion.
Jones said his howl after the brawl was an instinctive, primal gesture, not a planned action. He said he was feeding off the excitement of the crowd and their enthusiasm for the brawl…
Another commissioner pointed out the absence of Dana White might have played a role and that the UFC learned that “a real presence” is required…
(Underhooks, Sholler! Like we did in practice!)
Commissioner Brady asked for mercy for Jones due to his having already lost one of his fights this year due to injury…
The commissioners said they are “pissed off” at the outcome of “the last time we tried to do something non-traditional” which presumably refers to attempts to use Chael Sonnen as an advisor on drug testing and testosterone replacement issues…
Cormier then appeared before the commission. His attorney said the NSAC was under pressure from the media due to the “non-sporting event actions of athletes” and he pointed out that “this is not a domestic violence situation, not a drunken driving situation and not a brawl between a professional athlete and a non-professional. Rather it was a brawl at an event designed to promote a fight.”
Cormier’s attorney says that he is standing by his filing that the brawl was a self-defense action on Cormier’s part and that his client is not at fault…
One of the commissioners asked Cormier what he could have done differently. Cormier said he could have taken a step back. [Ed. note: Like a punk?? Nah, son.]
Cormier told the commission that he was surprised by the intensity of the stare down because he and Jones had been cordial backstage before the stare down.
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and 205-pound top contender Daniel Cormier appeared before the Nevada Athletic Commission to discuss their August brawl at a press event. Both fighters received modest punishments that ensures their fight will s…
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and 205-pound top contender Daniel Cormier appeared before the Nevada Athletic Commission to discuss their August brawl at a press event. Both fighters received modest punishments that ensures their fight will still go down in Las Vegas, Nevada at UFC 182 on Jan. 3rd. The entire hearing was broadcasted live on UFC Fight Pass.
Jones appeared first, and was quiet and repentant in talking with the Commission, accepting blame for the brawl and basically asked for leniency. In light of Jones’ honesty and claims that he lost his much-hyped sponsorship with Nike due to the brawl (and also had another major sponsor leave the bargaining table), he was given a $50,000 fine and 40 hours of community service.
Motion passes, $50,000 fine and 40 hours of community service for Jones.
Jones was quick to take to Twitter afterwards, shrugging off the fine, but expressing concerns regarding how the community service may affect his camp:
40 hours of community service in Vegas with a fight coming up is the only thing that really concerns me.
Cormier, meanwhile, was slightly less repentant as he largely placed blame on Jones for the altercation for both the initial aggression in touching foreheads and then throwing the punch that set the situation off. Accordingly, he received a lesser penalty with a $9,000 fine (10-percent of his guaranteed purse) and 20 hours of community service:
Daniel Cormier, like Jon Jones, will be fined 10% of his guaranteed purse. That’s $9,000. DC also gets 20 hours of community service.
For those that don’t remember, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier had one of the biggest press conference brawls in MMA history back in August.
The scuffle saw Jon Jones shove UFC Senior Director of Public Relations off the back of the stage and throw a punch at Cormier. From there, the two light heavyweights fell off the back themselves and threw punches before being pulled apart, before Cormier threw his shoe at Jones. Jones then got back onto the stage and yelled. From there, the two had a heated exchange off-camera (they believed) following an interview on ESPN.
Unsurprisingly, the Nevada State Athletic Commission offered a slap on the wrist for Jones and Cormier that left the date and place for the fight untouched. Former light heavyweight and middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen was recently suspended for two years, effectively ending his career, following a failed drug test. Belfort, meanwhile, was offered a faux suspension that still afforded him the opportunity for a December title fight opposite Chris Weidman in Las Vegas.
The fight that could have been was just three weeks away from today.
If not for an unfortunate knee injury to the champion, we’d all be three weeks away from the best pay-per-view card of the year. Alas, the injury did happen, and the best thing …
The fight that could have been was just three weeks away from today.
If not for an unfortunate knee injury to the champion, we’d all be three weeks away from the best pay-per-view card of the year. Alas, the injury did happen, and the best thing we can all do is accept it and wait for the champion and challenger to heal up nicely.
Two weeks removed from surgery to repair his injured knee, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is back in the gym.
Jones posted a video on his Instagram profile earlier captioned “Two weeks after knee surgery..Phil4:13.” The video shows Jones land two kicks and one low-flying knee.
Jones’ light heavyweight title tilt with Daniel Cormier was rescheduled for Jan. 3 after the champion hurt his knee while wrestling with Jackson’s MMA teammate Alistair Overeem last month.
“It’s part of the game, it wasn’t like … somebody went for a flying kick and dislocated [something],” Jones’ coach Greg Jackson told Sherdog.com. “Somebody went for a takedown, [Jones] stepped the wrong way, twisted the wrong way and down he went. He was fighting it, and he just twisted it. And then it just popped.”
The injury came as terrible news to the MMA community, most of which was already accounting for UFC 178 in monthly budgets. This was a fight most wanted to see, save for the Alexander Gustafsson faithful.
Seeing Jones back in the gym while he kicks the bag in a relatively gingerly manner is reason enough to be excited for January bout—Jones will be ready, Cormier will be ready, and, rest assured, fans will be ready.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
Very rarely does a fight come together via honest divisional math that has as much heat and validity as Jon Jones versus Daniel Cormier.
That isn’t to say that there haven’t been some very lucrative bad-blood matches in the UFC to date. The…
Very rarely does a fight come together via honest divisional math that has as much heat and validity as Jon Jones versus Daniel Cormier.
That isn’t to say that there haven’t been some very lucrative bad-blood matches in the UFC to date. The company delivered the first bout between Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz way back at UFC 40 in addition to giving us Quinton “Rampage” Jackson versus Rashad Evans at UFC 114.
But neither one of those bouts had the level of legitimacy of Jones-Cormier. For his first bout with Ortiz, Shamrock wasn’t even really ranked at light heavyweight and certainly wasn’t in the top 10.
For his match up with Evans, Jackson had the needed divisional standing but was a man who had proved prone to losing motivation and focus. He had gone from a fighter who looked capable of handling anything thrown his way to a man who looked shocked and utterly unprepared for the rudimentary leg kicks Forrest Griffin used to help take the title.
There have been other bad-blood fights as well—the rematch between Georges St. Pierre versus BJ Penn is another example—that brought in big pay-per-view numbers, but none of them have the dignity that Jones versus Cormier enjoys.
There is nothing phony or contrived about it: Both men are the very best fighters in the division and the timing is nearly perfect. This isn’t one of those fights made simply because it will sell tickets; this is a fight that has seen the cream rise to the top as both champion and challenger look to have the tools to defeat each other.
Aside from Alexander Gustaffson, Daniel Cormier is the man many are picking to have the only true chance of defeating Jones, who has proved to be simply too much for just about anyone at 205 pounds.
When Gustaffson suffered a training injury, Cormier slipped in the front door and took his place, bringing a kind of gravitas to the bout that we have not seen in many years.
Make no mistake about it: Jones and Cormier represent not only the very best fighters in the light heavyweight division, but perhaps in the entire sport.
And they honestly and truly do not like each other in any way, shape or form. The bad blood between these two men runs hot and honest, which gives the fight a Muhammad Ali-vs.-Joe Frazier feel.
There is something about Cormier that either empowers or infuriates Jones enough to toss aside his practiced demeanor and show us the fierce competitor that he really is. A victory over Cormierwouldn’t be for the fans or the sport; it would be for Jones and Jones alone. If we get anything from it, well, that’s of little concern to the reigning light heavyweight champion.
And I love that.
While I have never really understood why so many dislike Jones, the side of himself he is showing now is totally honest. He isn’t shrinking from this moment; he’s rising to it with a Mayweather-esque swagger that is perfectly befitting a fighter who has shown himself to be a near virtuoso at the championship level.
If he hadn’t polarized the fanbase before, he’s done so now, with no apology, hesitation or regret, and that is exactly how it should be.
For Cormier, Jones represents everything he dislikes on a personal level. Cormier clearly respects Jones as a fighter, but he is not in the least bit intimidated; he honestly believes Jones simply cannot handle what he brings into the cage, and he just might be right.
When you look at the opponents both men have fought in the past, it is clear that in each other they are finally facing their biggest test to date. Both men are excellent grapplers with different but equally dangerous striking games and above all, they are in their primes.
While Cormier might be considered old at 35, he’s never really taken any kind of true punishment in his professional career. His transition from Olympic wrestler to a well-rounded MMA fighter has been shockingly fast and fearsome.
When Cormier was throwing Josh Barnett and Dan Henderson around the cage with ease, it was very much reminiscent of how Jones handled Stephan Bonnar and other opponents early in his rise to power.
Cormierisn’t just good, or very good, when it comes to wrestling—he’s fantastic. Consider: Outside of catching a kick attempt or locking Cormier up in the clinch and utilizing a slick trip, it’s damn near impossible to imagine Jones landing any kind of takedown on Cormier.
When was the last time it seemed like Jones would be matched with a fighter who looked like he could stop most (or possibly all) of his takedown attempts? Gustaffson managed to stuff all but one takedown attempt from the champion, but that was just one of many surprises we didn’t see coming.
On the other side, it is going to be very interesting to see how Cormier handles the speed and striking of Jones at range. It is doubtful that Jones is going to be throwing many kicks in this fight, but with his incredible reach, athleticism and skill, his fists and elbows could light Cormier up all night long.
And it’s that kind of drama that makes this one of the most, if not the most, compelling title fights in UFC history.
Again, consider the timing of it all.
Until Gustaffson, Jones hadn’t looked touchable in a fight. After their bout, with Jones bloodied and bruised, his detractors were salivating at the thought that Jones really can be beaten. When coupled with Cormier’s incredible wrestling chops and ever-improving striking, you can bet they will be tuning in to UFC 182 with their hopes of seeing Jones go down in flames higher than they’ve ever been before.
But these aren’t the only reasons why this fight is a must-see event for MMA fans.
Right now, Jones is within striking distance of Anderson Silva’s record for most consecutive title defenses. After he dominated Glover Teixeira at UFC 172, Jones extended his streak to seven consecutive title defenses in a row; should he beat Cormier, he will be just three more wins away from breaking Silva’s record, and with that will probably come the mantle of the GOAT (Greatest of All Time).
Needless to say, there are many fans of Silva, in addition to the detractors of Jones, who will be tuning in with the hopes of a Cormier victory. They think Jones is cocky enough as it is now and cannot imagine how much bigger he will swell should his pride be fed the title of the greatest fighter ever.
And what of the fans of Jones, who, like the fans of Floyd Mayweather, love to see him keep defying the odds on his march to greatness? With so much at steak, especially bragging rights, there will be many a Jones fan tuning in, waiting for the chance to say Jones really is the greatest of all time and they “knew it all along.”
There is also this point to consider: Should Jones thoroughly dominate Cormier, there will probably be nothing to prevent him from moving up to heavyweight, after he breaks Silva’s title defense record. Outside of Cain Velasquez, Cormier was probably the best heavyweight in the world and should Jones have his way with him, there will be very few people willing to dismiss Jones’s chances at heavyweight—most importantly, Jones himself.
For now, the division between the two fighters and their fans is seething and won’t be harmed by the postponement of the bout. If anything, as Jones get’s healthier, the verbal back and forth between both men is likely to start up again, just as passionate as before.
In fact, the postponement of the bout could actually make it a bigger success.
When Angelo Dundee was manager of Sugar Ray Leonard, there was one fighter that all boxing fans wanted to see him face: Tommy Hearns. Dundee knew this but opted to wait to sign the bout because he knew that it could be huge if it was given enough time to boil in the oven of anticipation and public opinion.
While there are many differences between boxing and MMA, anticipation is anticipation. No matter how fearful we may be that this bout will lose some portion of its epic quality, once Jones is back in training and the fight grows closer, all that has come before will resurface like it happened yesterday.
And one of the big reasons for this is that in the case of Jones versus Cormier, the show itself will probably be equal to the overture.
For a truly great fight to take place at the championship levels, both champion and challenger need to have equal measures of belief in themselves and the desire to claim greatness at the expense of the man standing across from them.
For all the talk about how false or fake Jones is, one thing is terribly clear: In the cage, on fight night, there’s probably no one in the sport more genuine, daring and committed to winning the fight. Jones embraces all the dangers of each opponent and then he wins; there is nothing his detractors can say that changes that.
Now he faces his greatest challenge ever; a man who cares not one little bit about who Jones has defeated before because he believes none of those great men have had what he has—the dedication, confidence and skill needed to put Jones on his back and keep him there, time after time.
Both men believe that they are going to win at UFC 182. One of them is right and one of them is wrong.
The lead-up to the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier fight on January 3, 2014, just keeps getting better.
After Bones laughed about Cormier’s fourth-place finish in the 2004 Olympics as a member of the U.S. wrestling team, Cormier fired back:
Saw Jones on …
The lead-up to the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier fight on January 3, 2014, just keeps getting better.
After Bones laughed about Cormier‘s fourth-place finish in the 2004 Olympics as a member of the U.S. wrestling team, Cormier fired back:
There is something about Jon Jones that seems to unearth a whole other side to Daniel Cormier.
