Daniel Cormier is online.
Recently, the former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion took to X to reply to a post from MMA Uncensored. Cormier took umbrage with the account posting an old quote seemingly out of the blue.
In the post, the account featured a quote from Cormier about his rival Jon Jones on an infographic. The quote is from an episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast when Cormier was a guest of Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman.
It reads: “There will be a person that comes along that people will replace Jon Jones as the greatest of all time. He has not left such a legacy that it doesn’t feel like it will be toppled.”
Cormier replied to the post: “This is a take from 3 years ago?”
The post isn’t exactly fresh, but it’s not three years old. It came from Cormier’s appearance on the podcast in an episode that was posted on September 26. Cormier’s words came in response to a comment from Usman.
The former UFC welterweight champion called Jones the Michael Jordan, LeBron James, or Tom Brady of MMA. Cormier scoffed at that lofty comparison, citing Jones’ suspensions for the use of banned substances and other struggles.
The post does seem to be a strange one considering neither Cormier nor Jones were figuring prominently in MMA news, but the account didn’t specify when the quote was used. Perhaps they should have, to eliminate any confusion.
The Cormier-Jones rivalry is the best in the history of the sport. The bad blood—especially on Cormier’s side—seems to run deep. They are quite possibly the two greatest light heavyweights and among the greatest heavyweights of all time.
While Cormier lost two fights to Stipe Miocic at the end of his career, you could argue that, in his prime, the only man capable of beating him was Jones—who got the better of him twice, though the last one was turned into a no contest.
Jones is seemingly moving toward an epic defense of his UFC heavyweight championship against reigning interim champ Tom Aspinall. No date has been set, but most expect the fight to happen at some point late in the spring or early in the summer.
The fight seems like a strong possibility to happen at International Fight Week.
What’s Next for the UFC?
There is no UFC event this weekend, which might also explain the post. The promotion gets back to action on February 1 with a card from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Here is a look at the lineup of fights, headlined by Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov.
- Israel Adesanya vs. Nassourdine Imavov – Middleweight (185 lbs)
- Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Michael Page – Middleweight (185 lbs)
- Sergei Pavlovich vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik – Heavyweight (265 lbs)
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Vinicius Oliveira – Bantamweight (135 lbs)
- Ikram Aliskerov vs. André Muniz – Middleweight (185 lbs)
- Muhammad Naimov vs. Kaan Ofli – Featherweight (145 lbs)
- Shamil Gaziev vs. Thomas Petersen – Heavyweight (265 lbs)
- Terrance McKinney vs. Damir Hadžović – Lightweight (155 lbs)
- Fares Ziam vs. Mike Davis – Lightweight (155 lbs)
- Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Mayra Bueno Silva – Flyweight (125 lbs)
- Bogdan Grad vs. L. Alexander – Featherweight (145 lbs)
- Hamdy Abdelwahab vs. Jamal Pogues – Heavyweight (265 lbs)
- Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady vs. Bolaji Oki – Lightweight (155 lbs)
