Former UFC star Daniel Cormier on Tuesday clapped back at long-time rival, Jon Jones — after the heavyweight champion roasted him and Chael Sonnen on how their careers have dwindled in recent years.
Cormier, who has twice faced off with fellow former two-weight champion Jones during his Octagon tenure, failed to topple the Rochester native on either occasion. First dropping to a decision loss, Cormier would then be finished via high-kick in a rematch at UFC 214 in 2017, before the loss was overturned to an official ‘No Contest’ after Jones tested positive for banned substances.
Also targeted in Jones’ comments was Cormier’s co-host, Chael Sonnen — who also dropped a defeat to Jones. Despite suffering a gnarly fractured toe in their 2013 showdown, Jones would score a TKO win over the middleweight veteran — in the latter’s final title fight in the promotion.
“Jon Jones whooped both of y’all, but hey—why not team up on a podcast and gossip about his life?” Jones tweeted in reference to Cormier and Sonnen. “Meanwhile, he’s out here making your annual salary in a week. Stay busy, boys”.
But amid his sidelining from action, Jones has come under fire from fans — and pundits alike, in fact. Notably, Cormier and Sonnen have heavily weighed in on Jones’ apparent reluctance to fight interim champion Tom Aspinall. And naturally, this led to a rather bitter response from the New York veteran. And today was no different, expect both Sonnen and DC finally decided to get a little personal.
Both Cormier and Sonnen sniggered at Jones’ comments on their Good Guy/Bad Guy weekly show. Denying Jones had made their annual salary on a weekly basis already, DC claimed that both he and his partner were happy to play the long game.
“He (Jones) said he makes out salary in a week,” Cormier said. “That’s not true, Chael. Hey, Chael — we’re doing pretty good, aren’t we? We’re doing pretty good. And we have longer-term earning potential than Sir Jon Jones,” he gleefully added.
Notably, this is not the first run-in between Jones and Cormier this month, even — with the former making a rather sizeable prediction of their failed heavyweight trilogy.
Cormier claims Jones is ‘out of his mind’
Boldly predicting he would outwork and beat Cormier worse at the heavyweight limit than their pairings at 205 lbs during their respective rivalry, Jones came under significant fire for his comments.
While he did defeat Cormier and soundly so, DC has strongly denied these claims, asserting that the Rochester native was “out of his mind” with that outlandish claim.
“Jon Jones, when I was actively fighting, said, ‘I would not fight Daniel at heavyweight because it gives him an advantage. That’s where he’s best at,’” Cormier told ESPN.
DC then urged Jones to do what he’s supposed to do – sign the UFC contract so that he can be booked in a heavyweight title unification fight against Aspinall. And as far as he himself was concerned, DC also reminded Jones that he was a 46-year-old part-time golfer.
