UFC News: Jon Jones’ Ugly Past Comes Haunting Back as Daniel Cormier Defends Himself Against UFC Champ’s Jibes

It appears that bitter rivals Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier will never get on the same page. The current UFC heavyweight champion made some shocking comments about ‘DC’s title reign recently and guess what? Cormier clapped back at Jones and even brought up his shortcomings when they were rivals.

Daniel Cormier, among many others, had been talking about Jon Jones avoiding the interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall as his next opponent. When ‘Bones’ learned about it, he dismissed the UFC commentator’s take and even deemed his title reign as dismissive. It came as a surprise since Cormier is one of the most decorated UFC athletes if we take a look at the history books. Hence, the former champion did not stay silent for long and spoke out about Jones.

Daniel Cormier brings up Jon Jones’s past troubles

We all know how much trouble Jon Jones has gotten himself into in the past, and that’s seemingly what Daniel Cormier pointed out in his latest YouTube video. The former double champion mentioned that ‘Bones’ may be injured now, which is the reason he’s out of competition, but that wasn’t the case when they were engaged in their bad-blooded rivalry because Jones was caught for banned substances.

“Right now, he injured himself. With me, it was him getting caught doing things he’s not supposed to and then getting stripped and taken out of competition… While it may seem the same, it’s not the same,” Daniel Cormier added. Furthermore, ‘DC’ also explained how it was impossible for Jon Jones to compete during his title reign due to the drug test failures, which totally dismisses the things he spoke about Daniel Cormier’s title reign.

In 2017, Jon Jones faced one of the longest bans in his career, which was also the time when Daniel Cormier was ruling the heavyweight division as the kingpin. He was subjected to a 15-month suspension after tests revealed his usage of anabolic steroids, which was a serious offense.

“He was incapable of competing when I was the champion. He was not allowed to compete when I was the champion. Not due to injury, [it was] due to illegal substances found inside of his body. That’s just the truth,” Cormier added. Having said that ‘DC’ also drew a contrast between Jon Jones’s out-of-competition status now and his out-of-competition status back when he was champion.

‘DC’ asks Jones not to manipulate facts

In October 2023, when Jon Jones injured his shoulder just days before UFC 295, the supposed ‘greatest of all time’ was deemed unfit to compete for a considerable amount of time. Moreover, this injury popped up just after he had his first battle inside the Octagon in over three years. But the champ seems to have recovered faster than expected. So yes, if he had a decision to make about getting it on inside the Octagon, Daniel Cormier believes Jones could go ahead with that. It’s not a big deal.

“They said it would be a year and a half before he’d be able to compete. He’s so far ahead that he’s looking forward, he’s back in the gym training. So if he decided today, ‘I’m going to go and I’m going to fight’, there’d be nothing to stop him,” Cormier further stated.

The former double champion then shifted his focus and pointed out Jon Jones’s troubling past. He claimed that it was impossible for the heavyweight champion to even entertain the thought of competing back when banned substances were detected in his body. Hence, ‘DC’ urged Jones to stop the manipulation tactics he used while dismissing his championship status.

“When him and I were fighting and he kept getting in trouble, he could not go, ‘I’m back in the gym and I’m ready to fight’. He couldn’t. It was illegal… So it’s time to stop lumping everything together, but this sleight of hand is what Jon is very good at,” Daniel Cormier added.

Will Jon Jones issue a response of his own to ‘DC’? Well, that depends on the heavyweight champion. But what did you make of Daniel Comrier’s response? Let us know in the comments.