Daniel Cormier has nothing but praise for the UFC's heaviest champion's recent approach.
Undisputed UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones teased his impending return with a series of tweets over the weekend. Jones, 36, said a verbal agreement is in place for his return fight and first defense of his heavyweight title. Rather than spoil the surprise of who the challenger would be, “Bones” opted to let UFC CEO Dana White reveal everything at the appropriate time.
Jones' teasing comes shortly after he expressed his belief that his title fight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira would be much bigger than his long-awaited unification bout with interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall. It was done. Unfortunately, it never seemed like the latter party would be the next choice, and after seeing Jones' Twitter rant, he said he has no updates on his immediate future. This comment sent much of the online community into a frenzy, but Jones' old rival Cormier loved watching this play.
“Not everyone hits like Francis Ngannou or Alex Pereira, but if you can get away from that and deal with it, it's a lot less risky than fighting a guy with a complete skill set. That's what it is. It's Tom Aspinall,” Cormier said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy.” “He's smart and I love what John is doing in terms of finding the right partner. He may or may not fly.
“Today's athletes are much smarter than they used to be, and I believe that makes this sport even more interesting. I love it. I love what John is doing. I believe that what Alex is doing is I love him, but I think John is making the choice, “Hey, I'm not going to fight Tom Aspinall.” Have you seen Tom Aspinall? ”
This was a somewhat counterproductive and unexpected move on Jones' part – unless the fight actually happens – which led to even more claims that he was afraid of a fight with the talented Aspinall. Historically, interim champions can expect a champion-versus-champion clash to be imminent due to the absence that led to the creation of the title.
The promotion and White have insisted that Jones' originally scheduled fight against Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 last November will be rebooked for Jones. The speculation at the time before that happened was that it very likely was, and still could be, Jones' last fight. Another past opponent of Jones, Cormier's co-host Chell Sonnen, simply sees Jones' interest in Pereira as a good sign more than anything else.
Unfortunately for Miocic, as time goes on, he's becoming less and less the opponent the world wants to see.
“You can call Jon Jones. I'll turn a blind eye and I'll help you. You say you're scared of Jon Jones, but I'm not one of those people.” said Sonnen. “That's not true. This is the second time in recent weeks that Jon Jones has talked about an opponent other than Stipe. Whether it was the showdown with Aspinall or suddenly bringing up the big payday with Pereira. He's starting to talk, and he's warmed to the idea that the next fight won't be the last. That's the common theme here.”
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apex on the road.
Rodrigo Nascimento will headline this weekend's UFC Arena event.
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Ilir Latifi and Tanner Boeser won by split decision.
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Suspended for 6 months for failing USADA test.
The hurdles are low these days.
— Andy Hickey MMA (@AndyHickeyMMA) May 6, 2024
Preparation.
squad.
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Typical Fedor KO.
Juicy base.
Peyton Talbot (8-0) vs. Giannis Genmoli (12-2); UFC 303, June 29th
Cory Sandhagen (17-4) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (17-0); UFC Abu Dhabi, August 3rd
I like the idea of both fights for Jones ten times more than Miocic. Because both make sense. But nothing makes as much sense as Aspinall and is literally uncontroversial.
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