Jon Jones is willing to bury the hatchet with Daniel Cormier, but under one condition.
The rivalry between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones has been running since 2014 when they first laid hands on each other during the UFC 178 pre-fight media day. Since then, the UFC light heavyweight title had changed hands and both fighters had been on different paths, but the bad blood has remained at its boiling point.
On July 29th at UFC 214, “DC” and “Bones” will finally get to settle the score, should things go smoothly as planned. And if they do end up fighting each other, Jones expects all the animosity to end, but only if Cormier concedes to what he believes to be the ultimate truth.
"This rivalry ends at UFC 214 and after [the fight],” Jones told FloCombat (H/T MMA Mania). “I honestly have no problem with Daniel Cormier. If he wants to be friends, be a sportsman and realize I'm just the better fighter, that would be great. It would show a lot about who he is. I doubt he'll do that though based on how he acted the first time I beat him.”
Jones is highly confident that he can pull off a repeat of their first fight at UFC 182 in January 2015, that he is already anticipating the “excuses” from Cormier if it does end up that way.
"I'd be willing to bet the house he's going to come up with some kind of excuse or reason why he lost this fight,” Jones said. “I have friends who are all over social media and they tell me both Luke Rockhold and Cain Velasquez have been injured and haven't been training a lot. I really hope he really doesn't use that as an excuse.”
"I'm hoping he can finally look himself in the mirror and say, 'Goddammit...maybe I should have caught Jon Jones back in 2008 when I was failing to make weight at the Olympics. Maybe when I was at that age I was the guy to beat him. Maybe I just tried this thing too late in life.”
"I just want him to get honest with himself and be grateful for the time he did get to spend with the belt."
UFC 214 takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.