Jon Jones is the greatest light heavyweight on the world – but he is not the light heavyweight champion. Instead, Jones’ many recent legal woes resulted in his being stripped of the UFC light heavyweight title, which was claimed by long-time rival Daniel Cormier in his stead.
Earlier this year, of course, it looked like Jones was ready to turn things around.
Though his originally scheduled comeback bout with Cormier fell through, the former champ ultimately made a successful return to the cage, defeating late-replacement Ovince St. Preux to win the interim light heavyweight title.
Then, in the weeks after his interim title winning comeback, he and Cormier were scheduled to unify their titles in the main event of the massively hyped UFC 200. Unfortunately, this is not the way things went down. Jones was pulled from the bout after a potential USADA violation, and temporarily suspended as a result. Cormier, meanwhile, defeated middleweight great Anderson Silva in a last-minute, non-title light heavyweight bout.
Today, Jones’ future is murkier than ever. Though he has suggested he could be back in Octagon quite soon, he is currently awaiting a sentencing that could keep him out of action for years.
Given the nebulous conditions of Jones’ career, Cormier believes he should be stripped of the interim title.
“Now one thing I completely disagree with, completely – and I don’t care who hears it – why in the hell would Jon still be the interim champion?” Cormier said to Brian Stann on his show on SiriusXM Rush. “That makes no sense. That makes absolutely no sense.”
“I don’t even know why he would still be the interim champion. His ass was disqualified. Take that freakin’ belt off of him. That’s stupid.”
In his interview with Stann, Cormier also addressed Dana White’s recent assertion that, if Jones returns to action, it could be to an interim title fight with Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.
“They should not be fighting for an interim championship,” Cormier told Stann. “That makes no sense at all.”
“I hope to God Dana misspoke, because that [fight with Rumble] makes absolutely no sense. They aren’t fighting for some interim title if they fight. They can fight in the main event because it’s a big fight and it’s a fun fight. If they fight, they fight to determine the number one contender it’s not some interim championship fight. That makes no sense at all… You’d have an interim champion defending the interim championship while the actual champion is actually still there. That makes no sense whatsoever.”
Given that Cormier is still very much in the picture, do you agree that Jon Jones should be stripped of the interim light heavyweight title? Sound off, PENN nation!