Jon Jones considers combating his enterprise however he admits {that a} heated rivalry with Daniel Cormier was not solely private but it surely introduced out the worst in him.
Widely known as the best fighter of all time, Jones has solely confronted adversity within the octagon a few occasions throughout his storied profession however he’s largely approached each opponent with the identical perspective that he’s there to do a job and win a combat. That each one modified when it got here to Cormier as a result of Jones confessed that he despised the two-time Olympian a lot that it made him work that a lot tougher to make sure he wouldn’t lose once they lastly met within the cage.
“Daniel Cormier and I, I swear he’s aged me in a sure manner,” Jones informed Vic Blends on YouTube. “I combat out of affection. I do what I do certainly out of affection — I really like this present, the chance, the followers, the cash, every thing, I simply find it irresistible. However with Daniel Cormier there was a hatred that got here out for the primary time the place I simply couldn’t think about shedding to this man.
“I keep in mind I bought further exercises on Christmas day simply because I hated him on the time a lot and couldn’t think about shedding to him. It drove me to beating him however I by no means wish to function out of that power.”
Jones is aware of that his intense disdain was reciprocated as a result of he’s heard Cormier say a lot the identical each time he’s addressed their rivalry publicly.
“I do know he feels the identical manner about me as properly,” Jones mentioned about Cormier. “I’ve heard him say it in interviews like ‘I genuinely hated Jon Jones.’ It was anxious and that coaching camp took a number of time and it in all probability took a couple of years off of our lives simply working out of a lot hate.”
Probably the most heated encounters truly passed off throughout an interview Jones and Cormier shared on ESPN with a verbal altercation caught on digicam when the fighters had no concept they had been being recorded.
The notorious back-and-forth trade was finally launched and Jones recounted that his need to truly hurt Cormier that day was completely real.
“We bought a leaked behind the scenes second the place I used to be actually telling him that I used to be going to kill him,” Jones mentioned. “We thought the cameras had been off and we had been nonetheless stay and he was like ‘are you subsequent door?’ and I used to be like ‘yeah, I’m subsequent door’ and like ‘are you continue to there p*ssy?’ and he’s like ‘I’m nonetheless right here.’ He’s like ‘I want they’d let me subsequent door so I might spit in your face.’
“I considered how usually I used to be seeing him face-to-face and he might truly spit in my face sooner or later. We’ve got far more media to do. I informed him ‘bro, when you do this, I’m going to f*cking kill you, I’ll completely kill you’ and I actually meant it. That was too darkish for sports activities and really actual.”
Jones in the end shared the octagon with Cormier on two separate events and he received each fights, though his knockout win from 2017 was finally overturned to a no-contest resulting from a failed drug take a look at.
Regardless, Jones by no means felt that manner about some other opponent and there was nothing made-for-television when it got here to his seething hatred in direction of Cormier.
“Daniel Cormier, we bumped into one another [in the street] and thank god we each had our groups round us that stored us separated,” Jones mentioned. “That was the one fighter that I felt like [I might fight in the street].
“Then we truly did combat within the MGM Grand within the foyer earlier than our combat. Daniel Cormier was a kind of guys the place on sight meant on sight. Wherever, any time.”
Contemplating Cormier went onto maintain titles at each heavyweight and light-weight heavyweight earlier than being inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame, Jones might simply contemplate these wins a number of the greatest achievements of his profession.
Nonetheless, Jones didn’t actually like himself very a lot throughout that point he spent with Cormier even when they did handle to create one of the crucial intense rivalries in fight sports activities historical past.
“It was good to observe,” Jones mentioned. “However not that a lot enjoyable being in.”
