Former light heavyweight & heavyweight UFC champion, Daniel Cormier, couldn’t stand the Michael Jordan-Jon Jones comparison and hilariously threatened to walk off the P4P podcast. While Kamaru Usman, who suggested it in the first place remains adamant, another MMA legend, Demetrious Johnson has also snubbed the comparisons between Jones and the ‘GOAT’ of the NBA, MJ.
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During an appearance on the Anik & Florian podcast, DJ reflected on Jones’ legacy and how he fares against an icon like Jordan.
“(Jones) one of the greatest, but I wouldn’t put him on the level of Michael Jordan.”
Demetrious Johnson says he wouldn’t call Jon Jones the ‘Michael Jordan of MMA’
“At the end of my career, I’m doing flying armbars in a world title fight. If you look at whose skillset developed over time, I would say mine did. When you look at Michael Jordan, I felt like his… pic.twitter.com/xhz0BErWri
— Full Violence ™ (@Full_Violence) September 27, 2024
Well, DJ certainly has a point there. Unlike Jordan or himself for that matter, Jones never really grew up. Jones has the potential to be good enough to be defending two titles in two divisions simultaneously but unfortunately, he never reached anywhere near that level of godhood.
While the inaugural UFC flyweight champion was racking up wins via flying knees and armbars towards the end of his career, Jones simply locked up a guillotine and submitted Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight title. Adding to his point, the ‘Mighty Mouse’ said,
“At the end of my career, I’m doing flying armbars in a world title fight. If you look at whose skillset developed over time, I would say mine did. When you look at Michael Jordan, I felt like his skillset kept on developing…”
Even though he believes Bones is one of the best fighters in the UFC, DJ cited a few of Jones’ fights – ones during his prime and some during the later stage of his career – and established that, unlike ‘Bones’, MJ was a force to be reckoned with throughout the entirety of his career.
Earlier, of course, Jones’ biggest rival, Daniel Cormier had lost his marbles after former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman had compared the UFC undisputed heavyweight champion to Jordan.
Jones ain’t ‘him’
Now, DC and Jones never really had a good relationship. In fact, the two couldn’t stand each other, they ended up creating chaos wherever they met, engaging in personal attacks, brawls, and everything in between.
While Jones definitely had an upper hand when they fought, one of their fights had to changed to a no-contest after the former was found guilty of doping.
Needless to say, having learnt his lesson with Jones, the veteran wants people to hold their horses when it comes to comparing him to all-time greats.
In fact, Cormier took offense when Usman during the latest P4P podcast did so.
“You done with the interview? Do you just want to be done? What? … So Jon Jones is the Michael Jordan and LeBron James of MMA? You’re going to sit up here, real life, one, two, three, four, five cameras…Jon Jones, when I’m looking for a sports [comparison], is a guy who has done so much, but because of all the other stuff, it’s hard to put him in that rarified air.
Well, Cormier does have a point here. After all, Jordan was never caught doing drugs or PEDs and remained an active player even at the later end of his career while Jones on the other is remained elusive and wouldn’t fight the rightful UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
