Daniel Cormier is over Jon Jones assuming he’s always the topic of conversation.
The latest chapter of the never-ending saga between Cormier in Jones stems from the UFC 318: Morning Weigh-in Show, where Cormier responded to the rapid-fire question: If you were to fight your enemy anywhere or a random place, where would it be?
“I kind of want the ability to kill him, so I’d like to do it at my house,” Cormier said on the show.
Dan Hellie followed up by asking who Cormier would be fighting. Paul Felder quipped, “I think we know.” Cormier laughed, and Hellie added, “Does it rhyme with Mon Mones?” The panel’s laughter continued, and Cormier clarified by stating, “I don’t dislike Jon Jones, I think he’s fine.”
Jones caught wind of the moment, and fired off a couple of messages on X (formerly Twitter) in reaction to the moment.
“DC said he wants to kill me at this house,” Jones wrote. “I already buried him twice in the Octagon. Third time I’m bringing a shovel.”
Jones continued in response to someone who attempted to clarify that Cormier did not state that directly.
“A blind man can see the mansion I own in Daniel’s head,” Jones wrote. “I just didn’t realize how deep his hate still runs. Those ass whoopings must’ve left more than bruises, I feel like I’m the most painful thing that ever happened to that man’s life. Emotional damage.”
Cormier took time out to respond to Jones’ messages in a video posted to his YouTube channel.
“I never once said Jon Jones was the person I was speaking about,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I never said it! Go back and watch the clip. I never once mentioned his name. … Not true! I never said I wanted to kill him at my house.”
Cormier acknowledges that his peers on the panel were referencing Jones and the laughter that came along with it, which may have really been the reason Jones was set off.
“Maybe Jon doesn’t like people laughing when talking about him,” Cormier said. “But a lot of the behaviors lately have a lot of people laughing about him and not with him.”
As Cormier continued to defend his position as an analyst who is required to discuss the fight world, including talking about all things Jones, he explained that he probably wouldn’t bring Jones’ name up if it wasn’t his job. The UFC Hall of Famer admits the losses to Jones “sucked,” but he’s moved on and made peace with the results.
“We can’t fight, so why would I let you occupy space in my head?” Cormier said. “I’m doing great. My life is awesome. I do a job where I talk about the news. You have been the news. … I never said him. People assume I was talking about Jon Jones, but what about maybe that I was talking about a guy that made my childhood ridiculous. Maybe it was someone else. Maybe it was somebody that I just don’t like outside of fighting. You don’t know. Only an insecure person would go immediately, ‘He’s talking about me.’ No. Maybe I wasn’t – but maybe I was. You don’t know – but again, I didn’t say a name on purpose.”
Cormier also found it a step too far for Jones to state that he was the most painful thing that had happened in his life, as he has experienced significantly larger losses in his personal life.
“You can’t say that you’re the most painful thing that’s happened in a person’s life when they’ve lost a child,” Cormier said. “That’s the craziest thing in the world. You say I’m the most painful thing that’s happened in a person’s life, and they’ve lost a child – or their father got murdered – but again, he knows that. That’s why you know you’re dealing with a different type of human being.”
