Jon Jones has said his famous UFC rivalry with Daniel Cormier was ‘too dark for sports.’
In fact, at one point during a heated, now-iconic interview between the pair, Jones stated that he would ‘kill’ Cormier if the latter tried to spit in his face.
Jones and Cormier shared one of the most iconic rivalries in UFC historygetty imagesJones is the current UFC heavyweight champion but fought ‘DC’ twice during his legendary stint as the king of the light-heavyweight division.
‘Bones’ became the promotion’s youngest-ever champion when he defeated Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in March 2011 and went on to defend the strap at 205 lbs a record-breaking 13 times.
He remains one of the UFC’s biggest stars to date, with pressure ramping up for him to unify the heavyweight division against Briton Tom Aspinall.
However, back in 2014, Jones had something else on his plate in the build-up to his first outing with Cormier.
The 37-year-old spoke to DeepCut with VicBlends this week when he was asked who brought the worst out of him during his heyday.
“Daniel Cormier,” Jones said without hesitation, before explaining how deeply rooted his rivalry with Cormier really was.
“I swear he’s aged me in a certain way. I fight out of love. I do what I do purely out of love. I love this gift, the opportunity, the fans, the money – everything. I just love it.
“But with Daniel Cormier, there was a hatred that came out for the first time. I just couldn’t imagine losing to that guy.”
Jones then explained how he would complete extra workouts on Christmas Day because he hated Cormier so much and couldn’t fathom the thought of losing to him.
“[That hate] drilled me to beat him,” he added. “But I never want to operate out of that kind of energy again.”
Jones said his rivalry with Cormier was ‘too dark for sports’Getty Both men exchanged blows in an iconic interview back in 2014@Sera - YouTube“I know he felt the same way about me too – I’ve heard him say it in interviews. ‘I genuinely hated Jon Jones,’ [he said].
“It was stressful. That training camp took a long time, and it probably took a few years off both our lives, just from operating with so much hate.”
Jones and Cormier were meant to fight for the first time at UFC 178 in September 2014.
But, one month before their main event bout was due to take place, Jones was forced to withdraw citing a leg injury as his main reason why.
Before they then finally met at UFC 182 in January 2015, Jones and Cormier had already shared some heated encounters.
“We had a leaked behind-the-scenes moment where I was literally telling him I was going to kill him,” Jones concluded, referring to an interview ahead of UFC 178.
Jones beat Cormier at the first time of asking at UFC 182 in January 2015Getty - Contributor ‘Bones’ stopped Cormier when they rematched but it was ruled a no-contestGetty - Contributor“He was telling me the same. We thought the cameras were off, but we were still live.
“He was like, ‘Are you next door?’ And I said, “Yeah, I’m next door. Are you still there, p****?”
“He was like, “Yeah, I’m still here. I wish you’d let me next door so I could spit in your face.”
“I thought about how often I was seeing him face to face, and he could actually spit in my face, as we had way more media to do.
“And I told him, ‘Bro, if you do that, I’m going to f***ing kill you. I will absolutely kill you.’ And I really meant it.
“That was too dark for sports and very real.”
Jones was then victorious over ‘DC’ in the main event of UFC 182, outpointing his American counterpart to secure a unanimous decision win.
He defended the belt against Ovince Saint Preux three months later, before fighting Cormier again.
However, ‘Bones’ went into the rematch as the challenger after he was stripped of the title following a hit-and-run incident in which he crashed into a woman and fled the scene.
The fierce rivals were set to face off in July 2016 at UFC 200, only for Jones to be pulled from the fight and handed a one-year suspension by USADA following a doping violation.
‘Bones’ eventually made it to the cage a year later and finished Cormier with a brutal knockout in the third round.
That wasn’t the end of Jones’ rivalry with Cormier, however, as the bout was later ruled a no-contest after Jones tested positive for the steroid Turinabol immediately after the fight’s weigh-in.
Cormier was then reinstated as the UFC heavyweight champion and defended the belt three times in 2018, before losing consecutive bouts to Stipe Miocic.
He now works as a pundit for the promotion, but has since said that his loss of focus ahead of that rematch is one of the biggest regrets of his career.
Jones, meanwhile, has been urged by the MMA world to vacate his heavyweight title in 2025 if he fails to defend it against Wigan native Aspinall.
A petition calling for the champion to be stripped of his UFC title has reached over 150,000 verified signatures
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