UFC News: Daniel Cormier Needs Jon Jones To Return, Says He Needs To Defeat ‘Bones’ To Complete His MMA Journey
After winning the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship by defeating Anthony “Rumble” Johnson back in May, Daniel Cormier had one, short message for the former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, saying “Jon Jones, get your s**t together,” in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
Over the past few months, there have been some who have said that Jon Jones will never return to the octagon, but, Daniel Cormier hasn’t been one of those people, and at the UFC’s “Go Big” press conference, Cormier said that he doesn’t just hope that Jones will return to the UFC, but he needs the former champ to return to the octagon, because, in his mind, he needs to fight, and defeat Jones for his journey in MMA to be complete.
“Obviously, I need [Jon Jones]. As I move forward, in this fight in October and I face Alexander [Gustafsson], I need that guy. I need that guy to get back in here and fight me again. For my journey to be complete and for me to be complete as I finish this sport, I need him. And honestly, I wish him all the best so that he can actually get back and I can stop playing around with these guys and get back to business.”
The legitimacy of Cormier’s light heavyweight title has been called into question ever since he won it four months ago due to Jon Jones’, who many believe is the true champion despite him being stripped of the title this past spring, convincing win over Cormier back in January.
However, Cormier believes that his win over Anthony Johnson proves that he is the true UFC light heavyweight champion, and he really doesn’t care about whether or not he’s being considered as the true champion by the fans or the media.
“I think beating Anthony Johnson solidifies that. He knocked me halfway across the octagon. It’s about me. I don’t really care too much about people saying I don’t have a real belt. I know how hard I’ve worked. I know how hard I’ve committed to this goal. I get my hand raised when I fight. I’ve lost once and every other time I’ve dominated the competition.”
Cormier, who is 36, was a NCAA wrestling runner-up, and a former Olympian, but he never received the gold in his original sport. But now, he’s finally the champion of his division in the world’s number one mixed-martial-arts organization, and he’s not apologizing for winning the gold while Jon Jones is away from the sport.
“Over the course of my life, I’ve always kind of come short and obviously having this now and winning under the circumstances that I fought under, I got the job done. For me, I’ve been fighting for a short period of time. It’s been 5 ½ years and I’ve won the Strikeforce championship and the UFC championship, so I’m good. This is going as good as I could have ever imagined.”
[Image via Fox Sports]
