On Monday afternoon, Jon Jones took to Twitter to discuss a potential trilogy fight with Daniel Cormier in the midst of the heavyweight champion’s upcoming title defense at UFC 241. Jones “guaranteed” a third fight wouldn’t happen, and, as expected, Cormier had something to say about it.
The UFC light heavyweight champion said, essentially, that the only way the fight would happen is if it took place at 205-pounds because Jones has expressed no interest in making the move to heavyweight. “Bones” stated that Cormier wouldn’t want to put his body through another difficult weight cut, meaning a trilogy fight would not take place in the future.
Daniel Cormier, while he has his hands full on Saturday night in his championship rematch with Stipe Miocic, believes Jones still wants the trilogy fight, despite Jones’ comments from earlier in the day.
Of course he wants to fight me, he’s fought 3 times this year and I’m gonna make more this weekend than he will even if he fights again this year lmao. O, how times have changed!
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) August 13, 2019
“Of course he wants to fight me,” Cormier said. “He’s fought three times this year and I’m gonna make more this weekend than he will even if he fights again this year (lmao). O, how times have changed.”
The reigning UFC heavyweight champion is admittedly torn when it comes to a third fight with his bitter rival, but the competitive Cormier would still be interested in another big money fight. “DC” also stated that it would be up to him if a third fight were to ever take place.
Daniel Cormier doubled down on that notion while appearing on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show Monday afternoon, which seemed have inspired Jones’ trio of Tweets that have gotten the MMA community’s attention.
“Ultimately, for him to make the big bucks, we have to fight each other,” Cormier explained. “I’ve gotten to a point in my career now where the UFC takes such good care of me on the front side that I don’t have to sell another pay-per-view in my life. I want to, obviously, but I make so much money now on the frontside, it doesn’t really matter if I fight him.
“Before, I was like, ‘I need to fight Jones because I need to make money. I need to fight Jones because I need to legitimize myself.’ I don’t need to do that no more. I’m the heavyweight champ of the world, so I’ll make the determination of whether I’ll fight him or not again.”
If Daniel Cormier is successful in his upcoming title defense at UFC 241, do you believe a third fight with Jon Jones would be next?