The rivalry between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier heated up at UFC 197, even with Cormier out of the fight against Jones due to an injury.
Cormier sat ringside doing color commentary alongside Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg for the main event UFC interim light heavyweight title fight between Jones and Ovince Saint Preux. With Jones’ unanimous decision win over Saint Preux, Jones and Cormier will get to settle their differences in the Octagon next for the undisputed title.
Cormier spoke with Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour on Monday and told a story about how much Jones despises him.
“The guy really doesn’t like me. He detests me… I was walking into the arena with my fiancee and my manager, and I see Walt Harris,” Cormier said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour (transribed by MMA Fighting). “Walt said, ‘can I have a picture?’ I said sure. I guess Jon goes into the arena to see the fans and all, and he saw Walt and I taking a picture. So he looks back and says ‘Walt, erase that picture you took, bro.’ Poor Walt was stuck in the middle of this, Ovince Saint Preux is stuck in the middle, but you kind of like get drawn into our s—.
“Then we’re like staring each other. What does this guy think I’m scared of him or something? What’s his problem? That was the only time I saw him. He was very cordial to Bob Cook earlier in the day when Bob was alone. It’s just me. The sight of me drives him crazy. It’s funny.”