UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones has detailed his challenge to Daniel Cormier, saying his rival was never the legitimate 205lb champion and that the pair should meet for a third time to end the discussion once and for all.
Cormier has been a vocal critic of Jones since his knockout defeat to the controversial world champion was wiped from the record after Jones tested positive in 2017.
And after another anti-doping abnormality showed up in Jones’ pre-fight drug test, Cormier criticized Jones again, then reacted to his rival’s knockout win over Alexander Gustafsson by tweeting: “Dude starts with a head start every time.”
Speaking at the UFC 232 post-fight press conference in Los Angeles, Jones addressed his rivalry with Cormier and clarified his challenge to the heavyweight champ.
“When it comes to Daniel Cormier he’s always quiet unless he’s speaking out to discredit me, my legacy, my achievements,” he said.
“He works his hardest to try to discredit and try to delegitimize the fact I beat him twice.
“And the only thing I want to delegitimize as a retaliation is his claim of being the light-heavyweight champion.
“He was never the light-heavyweight champion. He never beat me. This has been my era since 2011.
I want to make that loud and clear. DC is no ‘champ champ’
“When we talk about an asterisk next to my name, there’s gonna always be always going to be an asterisk alongside the idea of him being a ‘champ champ’.”
Jones then laid out very clearly his challenge to Cormier: face him at light-heavyweight and back up his claims of being a two-division champion or admit he was never the real champion to begin with.
“The only way he can shut me up on what I’m saying right now is to beat my ass. Simple,” he said.
“Me going to heavyweight would be making it extremely personal. And for me, I have no problem with DC. I have a problem when he comes out and goes ‘See I told you guys he’s a cheater! I told you he’s a cheater!’.
“I have no real problem with DC. I’m not going to go to heavyweight and try to take everything from him and destroy his legacy and all that type of stuff.
“Is it possible that I could do that? It is possible. But I’m fine having mine, and he can have his.
“DC needs to admit to the people that he was never the light-heavyweight champion, or face me at light-heavyweight and shut me up.”
