Kemo
09-04-2018, 09:32 PM
Former light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones last competed at UFC 214 back in July 2017 when he knocked out (now a no contest) Daniel Cormier. It was subsequently revealed that Jones failed a drug test leading into the fight. Since then, Jones’s nemesis Cormier has gone on to reclaim the light heavyweight championship in Jones absence and also win the world heavyweight championship from Stipe Miocic at UFC 226. Speaking with RT Sport in Russia, Jon Jones opened up for the first time about what was going through his mind watching Daniel Cormier become a two-division champion in his absence:
“A part of me was upset at first. First, I was surprised. Then I became a little upset because Daniel Cormier was crowned the first heavyweight and light heavyweight champion and in my heart I know that Daniel Cormier is not the light heavyweight champion, so it bothered me at first,” Jones told RT Sport in Russia.
“The next day after a few hours of being awake I realized I cannot be a hater. Someone else’s success has nothing to do with me. What God has for Daniel Cormier is for Daniel Cormier and what he has for me is for me, and so I had to find a place in my heart to be happy for him.”
But it is easier for Jon Jones to be happy for Comirer being a double champion when his plan is take not one, but both belts away from him:
“I think that beating him a third time would really do something to his confidence,” Jones said. “In his head, I feel like he thinks he can still beat me, especially because the fight was going fairly well until I knocked him out. I want to crush his confidence.
I want to let him know that I’m going to be Cael Sanderson. Cael Sanderson is a wrestler who beat Daniel Cormier seven times and I’m going to be his Cael Sanderson.
“He said to me once, ‘Jon Jones, I’ll always be that kid in your bracket,’ meaning he will always be in the same tournament as me. I’m sure he regrets that because we always see who ends up in the first place position when we go up against each other.
But I want to break his will. I want to break the idea of him thinking he can beat me. I believe doing that at light heavyweight would be the smartest thing to do, for a third time.
“Leading into our fourth fight, a possible fourth fight for the heavyweight championship of the world, his confidence won’t be in the right spot,” Jones said. “It won’t, and I think it will help me take that fourth victory over him and that heavyweight championship from him. I think I have his number.”
“A part of me was upset at first. First, I was surprised. Then I became a little upset because Daniel Cormier was crowned the first heavyweight and light heavyweight champion and in my heart I know that Daniel Cormier is not the light heavyweight champion, so it bothered me at first,” Jones told RT Sport in Russia.
“The next day after a few hours of being awake I realized I cannot be a hater. Someone else’s success has nothing to do with me. What God has for Daniel Cormier is for Daniel Cormier and what he has for me is for me, and so I had to find a place in my heart to be happy for him.”
But it is easier for Jon Jones to be happy for Comirer being a double champion when his plan is take not one, but both belts away from him:
“I think that beating him a third time would really do something to his confidence,” Jones said. “In his head, I feel like he thinks he can still beat me, especially because the fight was going fairly well until I knocked him out. I want to crush his confidence.
I want to let him know that I’m going to be Cael Sanderson. Cael Sanderson is a wrestler who beat Daniel Cormier seven times and I’m going to be his Cael Sanderson.
“He said to me once, ‘Jon Jones, I’ll always be that kid in your bracket,’ meaning he will always be in the same tournament as me. I’m sure he regrets that because we always see who ends up in the first place position when we go up against each other.
But I want to break his will. I want to break the idea of him thinking he can beat me. I believe doing that at light heavyweight would be the smartest thing to do, for a third time.
“Leading into our fourth fight, a possible fourth fight for the heavyweight championship of the world, his confidence won’t be in the right spot,” Jones said. “It won’t, and I think it will help me take that fourth victory over him and that heavyweight championship from him. I think I have his number.”