Jon Jones wrote to Daniel Cormier on social media this week giving his blessing him for him to commentate on his upcoming interim heavyweight title comeback fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285, and now his old rival has responded.
“You guys know how I feel about Jones and how we have felt about each other in the past,” Cormier stated on his YouTube channel. “But it leads me to this question: How do I take this? This particular tweet, which at times feels like a compliment, but also could be interpreted as a bit of a dig – considering at times, people call me biased in my commentary and all this other stuff. … First, just for the record, I don’t really need permission to call someone’s fight.”
It’s worth pointing out that this wouldn’t be a first as Cormier did call Jones fight with Ovince Saint Preux back in 2016, though that was before a rematch between the two that saw ‘Bones’ KO DC with a head kick – a result that was then amended to a no-contest when Jones tested positive for turinabol metabolites.
“I’ll be honest with you, it’s kind of nice hearing a fighter acknowledge, that even with our history, he believes that I can do him justice and do the job fairly – because I’ve done it before,” Cormier said. “… It seems now that Jones is maturing. He seems to be taking a much different approach to the build to the fight and how he’s approaching everything. But it feels nice for him to acknowledge, ‘I think this guy could do me justice.’”
With all that said though, Cormier admits that he’s not yet ready to say that he’d be willing to have further interactions with Jones beyond just the night of the fight.
“Yes, it is nice to hear him go, ‘Hey man, I believe Daniel Cormier can do the job,’. But I’m a professional. I have to be able to do the job.
“I don’t know that Jon Jones and I sit for an interview. I don’t know if we sit for a fighter meeting. I don’t know. I can’t answer those questions for you just yet, because I don’t know.”
