“People Are Going to Say I Was Hating on Jones…” – Daniel Cormier Questions Jon Jones Being Honored With Sporting Award Nomination

Recently, the nominees for the ESPY Awards were announced by ESPN. The award show will be held on July 13 in Los Angeles. The UFC fighters who received the nominations include Jon Jones, Islam Makhachev, Leon Edwards, and retired UFC fighter Amanda Nunes. UFC legend, Daniel Cormier, was not happy with Jon Jones receiving two nominations. They nominated Jones for Best MMA Fighter and Best Comeback Athlete. DC felt that Jones doesn’t deserve to be there, as he has fought just once since coming back.

Jones returned to the UFC after a hiatus of three long years to fight against Ciryl Gane in the heavyweight division. It was Jones’ first fight in the heavyweight division. He won the bout in the very first round at UFC 285 via submission. The former UFC two-division champion feels that Jones should have won more fights after coming back to be deserving of the nomination. Cormier further added that Jones is getting so much attention as he is the biggest star.

Daniel Cormier believes Jon Jones doesn’t deserve the honor

Cormier was talking in the show DC and RC uploaded on the YouTube channel of ESPN MMA. During the conversation with Ryan Clark, Cormier said, “People are going to say I was hating on Jones, but I just don’t know if one fight in the year against Cyril Gane puts you in that position and that’s no knock on Cyril. Like it was just one fight. You got to think of the storylines that follow these other athletes, right? From Makhachev beating ‘Do Bronx’ to win the belt. From Makhachev beating Alexander Volkanovski and don’t know if Islam fought another time earlier in 2022 to get to fall within that time.“

Talking further on the topic, he added, “I don’t know for sure, but then look at Amanda, losing her belt to Juliana and winning it back, and then Leon Edwards doing what he did. Let me tell you something, Jon Jones is in there because Jon Jones is the biggest star right? He’s the biggest star that’s holding a championship right now outside of Israel Adesanya, so that’s why he’s in there.“According to Cormier, there are many other worthy opponents other than ‘Bones’ in the UFC to win the awards.

It’s nothing new for ‘Bones?’

Now Jon Jones is the UFC two-division champion, having won the title in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. Jones also reigned as the UFC light heavyweight champion for a long period. When it comes to the ESPY nominations, it’s nothing new to him. From 2011 to 2014, they consecutively nominated him to the Best Fighter Category.

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However, he didn’t receive the awards, as Manny Pacquiao won them in 2011, and from 2012 to 2014, it was Floyd Mayweather who won the award. Later in 2019, ESPN decided to split the Best Fighter category into Best Boxer and Best MMA Fighter. Now it’s ‘Bones’ first nomination for the Best MMA Fighter category. Do you think that Jones will win the award?

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