Jon Jones Puts Aside Feud, Shares Heartfelt Appreciation for Daniel Cormier After Emotional Viral Reel

Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones have a rivalry that will be talked about even years after both are gone. However, a recent gesture by Jones seems to have made fans feel that the heavyweight champion truly respected his arch-nemesis.

For the uninitiated, ‘DC’ had to overcome multiple losses in his life, a tough upbringing, and many other battles just to make it to the UFC. A recent video showing Cormier’s struggles in life melted the hearts of many UFC fans including arch-rival Jon Jones who penned a heartfelt message.

In said video, the audience finds out that Cormier lost his father at the age of 7.  But this was only the beginning of a tough life for the former champion.

DC narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal after finishing 4th in the 2004 Olympics. But this was nothing compared to the other tragedies he’s faced his entire life.

His roommate and his best friend both passed away prematurely, and he also lost his first child at 3 years of age! Even as he was competing in the Olympics, life had dealt him one band hand after another.

All of these moments shaped Cormier into the man that he is today i.e., one of the biggest combat sports athletes on the planet and a UFC double champion.

This video was so emotional that even arch-rival Jon Jones took to the comment section of the video,

“Honored to share the ring with this man.”

For the uninitiated, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier have arguably the most heated rivalry the sport has ever seen. The two men fought twice and Jones came out on top both times. But it isn’t that either. It’s how their fight was off-screen.

The build-up to their fights included everything from insults to physical altercations and everything in between. Jones even claimed to have defeated Cormier after being on a coke binge for a week.

Then Jones failed a PED test and even though DC was handed the title, the former Olympian has often claimed that it’s the ‘not knowing’ if he could actually beat Jones that bothers him so.

So when DC flipped off the camera after a televised phone interaction with Jones, critics latched on to it.

Did Daniel Cormier just flip off Jon Jones?

Last week clips from the UFC’s new show, ‘Inside the UFC’ started going viral on social media. The clips provided a backstage look into how the top brass run the UFC and how fights are made.

In one such clip, Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones were seen interacting with each other over the phone. During a fighter meeting, Jones asked if he could speak to Cormier. The interaction between the two was extremely cordial, but at the same time really awkward.

At the end of the clip, Cormier was seen showing the middle finger which encouraged fans to believe it was aimed at Jones.

However, in a recent video posted on his YouTube channel, Cormier clarified the situation and stated that it was aimed at the UFC employees present in the room.