Daniel Cormier believes his old rival Jon Jones is harboring some concerns over the fact that Tom Aspinall could knock him out, but nonetheless he does believe that the UFC heavyweight champion will eventually agree to fight him.
“Jon now is a 38-year-old man looking at a 30-year-old man that’s bigger, that’s younger, that’s fresher, and going — it’s flipped,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “‘I don’t see the wear and tear on their faces anymore, I see the wear and tear on mine.’ He saw with Stipe [Miocic], Stipe looked older from all that time away. Now he’s looking down at a young man, and he’s like, ’Eh.’
“He’s not scared, make no mistake about it. But I think it’s enough to question. And you know what I think a big worry might be for him? With Aspinall, he could potentially get knocked out. Like, legitimately knocked out and put on his back out cold. I just don’t know that he wants to have that visual of him in the world. He’s knocked out a lot of guys and he’s never had —because I’ve seen myself get beat, and I’m like, ‘God, that’s such a horrible visual every time.’”
With all that being said, in the end DC believes that Jones will eventually fight him to ensure that accusations of running from Aspinall don’t overshadow his legacy.
“I don’t know that he vacates without fighting him, because I think the visual and the lasting thought would be that ‘He ran from him,’ and I don’t know his ego could handle that he ran from someone,” Cormier said. “The idea that people would think he is afraid means more to him than going out there and fighting him and taking the chance. Especially when there’s a real possibility that he just outclasses Tom Aspinall.
“There’s a real possibility that he goes out there and he outclasses Tom Aspinall. You don’t know. So I think that he will fight him. I don’t think they’ll need to strip him, I think he’ll fight him. And even though he could walk away and go, ‘I’m the best, I don’t need to do anything else.’ The idea that he ran is going to be too strong of a pull for him as he goes into the next phase of his career.”
