Getty Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones
Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier praised Jon Jones after his longtime rival won the heavyweight championship this past weekend.
“DC” didn’t let his personal feelings about Jones come in the way of his analysis. Although he believes Jones’ movement isn’t as fast as it used to be at 205 pounds, he said Bones was impressive at UFC 285.
“Jones doesn’t look like the same guy in the octagon,” Cormier said in a video on his YouTube page (h/t MMA Fighting). “He’s a tad bit slower, his movements aren’t as quick and dynamic, but that’s what you expect for a guy that puts on that much weight. But when he went out there he seemed to be having a good time.
“Hats off to Jon Jones for doing something he said he was going to do by winning the fight. Not only winning the fight, winning the fight impressively.”
Jones returned to the Octagon after more than three years away and he battled No. 1-ranked heavyweight Ciryl Gane for the vacant belt on March 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Even though Gane is known for his elite striking, Jones exposed the Frenchman’s grappling deficit. The former light heavyweight king needed less than three minutes to close the headliner, submitting “Bon Gamin” with a guillotine choke after taking the fight to the canvas.
Jones Lived Up to His Promise That He’d Defeat Gane Easily
Like Cormier, Jones now has owned both the heavyweight and light heavyweight championships. And although DC, who worked as a color commentator at UFC 285, thought Jones could get the job done, he wasn’t expecting it to be that easy. But, Bones did.
“Jon Jones is the heavyweight champion of the world in a way that not many expected,” Cormier said. “All week Jon Jones spoke about how easy this fight could be and nobody wanted to believe it. I know I didn’t. I thought he was in for it to the point that at the fighter meeting when Jon Jones was on the phone, I said, ‘Hey, I got one question for you. Just speaking about fear, you said you needed that. Does Ciryl Gane present that fear?’
“He had an answer that was still almost dismissive of Ciryl Gane and I didn’t understand it. I figured he was chasing challenges to elevate himself to the next level. Well, he goes out there and dominates in a way that tells me that everything he said he believed from the very start and he just did it.”
Jones Wants to Fight Stipe Miocic Next
If there’s one thing that Bones has made clear regarding his fight plans, it’s that he wants a GOAT vs. GOAT matchup against Stipe Miocic. Miocic, who many regard as the greatest UFC heavyweight champion of all time, was in the audience for UFC 285.
And Miocic became the center of attention when Jones spoke with Joe Rogan inside the Octagon. Jones called out Miocic for an International Fight Week clash in July and Miocic confirmed his interest in the timeline during Monday’s episode of MMA Fighting’s “The MMA Hour.”
The UFC has yet to confirm that fight, however.