Daniel Cormier is praising the ‘mentality’ and Fight ‘IQ’ of longtime rival Jon Jones.
It is true that the former light heavyweight champ, Jon Jones (26-1 MMA), plans to make his heavyweight debut in 2023. The 35 year old has not fought in the Octagon since February of 2020 where he defeated Dominick Reyes (12-4 MMA) by unanimous decision at UFC 247.
UFC President, Dana White, spoke at the UFC 281 post fight press conference confirming the long awaited Octagon return for ‘Bones’ is imminent:
“Jon Jones will fight next year, for sure. He’s going to fight next year.”
UFC commentator Daniel Cormier, a former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion in his own right has his thoughts on the New Yorker’s return to the Octagon.
Cormier, speaking on Chris Weidman’s ‘Sirius XM’ podcast spoke about Jones (h/t MMAFighting):
“I think he’ll be fine. The guy’s a good fighter. Very talented. I think he’ll do good at heavyweight. But it’s a matter of him making the leap, right? It feels like we’ve been waiting forever for him to fight in this weight class.”
Continuing, Daniel Cormier said:
“I think the moment he makes the actual jump into the heavyweight division, it will make the division much funner, it will make the division grow, and it’s already as fun as it’s been in a really long time. But just some of the matchups that he could be involved in with Francis Ngannou, Ciryl Gane and Curtis Blaydes, it makes for an idea of some big time fights.”
Reviewing the competition at heavyweight, as well as reflecting on Jones’ fights at light heavyweight, Cormier said:
“Watching Pavlovich, after watching what he did to Tai Tuivasa and everybody recently, there’s some dangerous fights for him, especially when you look back on his light heavyweight career and see how he struggled at times with bigger guys. I think he’ll be fun to add, but I think there’s some big-time matchups in there for him.”
Concluding, Cormier told Weidman:
“If he’s beatable, why hasn’t anybody beaten him? He’s long, he’s strong, he’s got good cardio, and he’s got a lot of great qualities in there. He’s very smart in the octagon That’s one of the areas I think people don’t give Jones the credit, his mentality and his fight IQ, his ability to process through a fight is better than most, and I think that’s why he’s had the longevity that he had.”
Daniel Cormier (22-3 MMA) and Jon Jones do have a history. The two fought back in January of 2015, where it was Jones claiming a unanimous decision victory. The two met up again in July of 2017 in the light heavyweight main event at UFC 214. The result was another win for Jones by knockout, but that win was overturned due to Jones testing positive for a banned substance, which resulted in ‘Bones’ being stripped of his title.
Do you agree with Daniel Cormier’s comments about Jon Jones? Are you looking forward to Jones’ return to the Octagon and who would you like to see him fight in his heavyweight debut?
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