Rogers: If Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier II matches trash talk, we're in for a classic
LAS VEGAS – If the physical attacks in the octagon when Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier meet in the main event of UFC 200 match the verbal violence that has taken place the last two months, it will be one of the most exhilarating title bouts in mixed martial arts history.
Jones and Cormier have wasted no opportunity to snipe at each other during the buildup to their clash for the UFC light heavyweight championship, their mutual dislike never far from display.
Perhaps the most surprising element has been the intensity with which the generally friendly and easygoing Cormier has poured vitriol on Jones, routinely bringing up the former champion’s legal issues and personal indiscretions.
Yet while Jones was initially irked by Cormier’s jabs, he has since interpreted it to benefit himself.
“I am a little bemused by it,” Jones told Paste BN Sports. “I have thought and wondered about what he is doing, because it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I think he is just trying to win some kind of popularity contest. He is trying for some kind of moral victory.
“That’s his backup plan, so that when he loses the physical battle he will have something to fall back on to make him feel better. It will be a kind of excuse for him because he knows in his mind that it is not going to end well.”
Jones vowed to clean up his life late last year and now says he has never been in better physical or mental shape.
However, Cormier has expressed his disgust for Jones’ prior behavior, which included driving his car into a pole while under the influence in 2012. In early 2015, Jones tested positive for cocaine. And in April last year, he was involved in a hit-and-run incident in Albuquerque, pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, for which he was sentenced to 18 months’ supervised probation.
“I know I have made mistakes and I own it,” Jones said. “I see right through him. He is trying to attack my character. Go ahead. I don’t care. He can go ahead and try to win a world peace medal all he likes. He’s not going to get that, and he’s not going to get in my head either.
“He is trying to paint a kind of picture of something like Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. He thinks he is the good guy like Holyfield, and I am like this crazy guy who is going to come off the rails.”
Jones and Cormier met once before, in the main event of UFC 182. Cormier, a former world-class wrestler, lost a five-round decision but later took over the title when Jones was stripped of the belt for his role in the hit-and-run.
The rematch figures to be something special, which is why it was given the cherished top billing as the main event of the biggest card in history.
Saturday’s event at the new T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip may be the first UFC card to break the two million pay-per-view mark.
As the sport’s popularity grows along with rumors of a lucrative sale to an investment group, Jones embraces the concept that the UFC may be entering a new era, one where its biggest stars start to reap major financial rewards.
Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor have found ways to parlay their widespread popularity on social media into lucrative contracts, while Jones is also one of the best remunerated athletes in the organization.
That has not stopped him from looking at new avenues for fiscal gain, opening discussions with former boxer Floyd Mayweather regarding ways they could work together for mutual profit.
“This is undoubtedly the biggest moment in UFC history,” Jones said. “We are part of a new wave now. You have to look after the business side. MMA has never been bigger and the endorsements are starting to become a large part of it. It is an exciting time.”
Yet Jones knows that for him, the big money will only follow if he is able to continue his remarkable career success. He has lost only once, a hotly disputed disqualification defeat to Matt Hamill in 2009.
Since then, he has racked up 13 consecutive wins, despite the intermittent disruptions away from the scene of combat.
“I’ve had some big wins but this will be the biggest and most important,” Jones said. “I am ready for it.”
PHOTOS: BEST OF THE FIRST JONES-CORMIER FIGHT