Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones never were destined to be best friends. From the first time the two fighters met there was an uneasy tension, despite the fact they were in different weight categories and separated by an entire promotion. The occasion was the UFC 121 weigh-ins on Oct. 22, 2010, and Cormier was flanking teammate Cain Velasquez, who was facing Brock Lesnar for the UFC heavyweight championship.
Cormier was there as Velasquez's friend and wrestling coach while quietly building steam in his own career. He was 6-0 as a pro with all of his fights in the heavyweight division and his biggest win coming over Australian competitor Soa Palelei in his second bout.
According to Cormier, as he was waiting for the weigh-ins to begin, Jones came over to introduce himself, but not with a handshake and a smile.
"Nobody knew who I was because I had just started fighting, but I knew who he was because I watched Jon Jones," Cormier told FOX Sports. "I was a fan of Jon Jones. I thought he was great. I thought he was going to be really good. I was standing with Cain before the weigh-ins and Jon comes up — he was very young at the time, maybe 21 or 22 — and says, 'So I hear you're a wrestler?'
"The way he interacts with people, it comes off kind of abrasive. This is an altercation. He meant something more. So I go, 'Yeah, I'm a wrestler,' and he makes the statement, 'Well, I bet I could take you down.' Now it's confrontational."
In dozens of interviews since the meeting, Jones swears he meant the comment as a joke, and he believes Cormier was offended because he didn't know that the person standing in front of him was a two-time Olympian and former Olympic team captain. To hear Cormier tell it, Jones was just igniting the flames to what one day would become a very heated rivalry between two of the best fighters in the world.
Because both Cormier and Jones ended up fighting for the UFC and eventually competing at 205 pounds, they were bound to land in each other's atmospheres again and again. Whether at press functions, backstage at events or just in passing, the tumultuous nature of that first meeting has repeated itself time after time whenever they've been near one another.
"We've run into each other a number of times and each one has been just as unpleasant as the time before," Cormier said. "We had an altercation at the World MMA Awards in 2011 and some words were said. I don't remember exactly what, but every time we've been in the same area we just don't seem to be getting along."
Will the Real Jon Jones Please Stand Up?
"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true."
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, 'The Scarlet Letter'
As if there needed to be a clearer indication of the disdain Cormier and Jones hold for each other, it was evident on Aug. 4 when the fighters shared the stage during a press event to promote UFC 178 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
It's customary after almost every media event for the fighters to square off for photographers to snap pictures, and sometimes a few words are exchanged, but usually by the time things start to potentially get physical, UFC officials are in between the competitors making sure cooler heads prevail.
It's also customary for Jones, who's not known for having heated staredowns with opponents, to conclude his usual pre-fight banter with the interviews and then step forward, put his head down and stare away without making much eye contact at all.
On this occasion, Jones looked like he was going for the same look as usual, but instead of bowing his head he opted to put it down on the forehead of Cormier, who stands about five inches shorter. Cormier took the move as Jones head-butting him, so he responded with a shove.
Before anyone could intervene — short of one poor UFC official who got tossed like a bean bag into the backdrop — Jones was piling forward at Cormier throwing punches and the men were engaged in a melee amid fans and media. The brawl lasted only a matter of seconds, but the replays still are going strong ahead of their Jan. 3 fight at UFC 182.
Minutes after the fight was broken up, Cormier and Jones sat down in different rooms and connected for a scheduled interview with ESPN. During the brief question-and-answer period, Jones apologized profusely for his part in the brawl while Cormier rolled his eyes and fired back at the champion for engaging in some rather boorish behavior before the cameras were rolling and then turning on the charm when the interview started.
It turned out the cameras were taping the entire time and the unaired segment eventually made its way to the Internet.
Jones could be seen saying to Cormier, "Hey, p--sy, are you still there? I'm a professional, the fact that you're a p--sy hasn't changed." Cormier fired back, saying, "It's unbelievable how fake you can really be. You're the f--king scum of the Earth, you are a terrible human being, but you can sure turn it on."
It was clear Cormier was extremely heated as he and Jones exchanged barbs for a few minutes. When the tape became public, Jones took a mountain of criticism for
doing exactly what Cormier accused him of: acting like a polite champion on air and then berating his opponent when the lights were supposed to be off.
"I'm not on a slander campaign to ruin Jon Jones publicly. That's not what I set out to do," Cormier said in the post-brawl interview. "I think in the interview when you saw me rolling my eyes and laughing is because that's who I am. Before we got on that interview we were yelling and screaming and cussing at each other. So I was so worked up, I couldn't just turn it off. Is that because I don't have good public relations training? Is it because I'm too emotional? But I don't believe when you're so emotional about something you shouldn't be able to just turn it off.
"I understand what he was trying to do, and he was trying to put his best foot forward in the public, but after the things that we had said to each other over a matter of minutes before, it was just impossible for me to shut it off."
Cormier never has let up on Jones for putting on what he considers a fake persona to the public while being a completely different person behind closed doors. While the unaired interview certainly didn't paint either fighter in the best light, Cormier doesn't feel vindicated that what he's been saying about Jones was proven to be true.
Much like Jones' infamous Twitter exchanges with fighters like Tyson Griffin, or the times he's been accused of attacking fans on other social platforms like Instagram before claiming that his account was hacked, Cormier believes the post-brawl interview was just the real Jon Jones behaving badly.
doing exactly what Cormier accused him of: acting like a polite champion on air and then berating his opponent when the lights were supposed to be off.
"I'm not on a slander campaign to ruin Jon Jones publicly. That's not what I set out to do," Cormier said in the post-brawl interview. "I think in the interview when you saw me rolling my eyes and laughing is because that's who I am. Before we got on that interview we were yelling and screaming and cussing at each other. So I was so worked up, I couldn't just turn it off. Is that because I don't have good public relations training? Is it because I'm too emotional? But I don't believe when you're so emotional about something you shouldn't be able to just turn it off.
"I understand what he was trying to do, and he was trying to put his best foot forward in the public, but after the things that we had said to each other over a matter of minutes before, it was just impossible for me to shut it off."
Cormier never has let up on Jones for putting on what he considers a fake persona to the public while being a completely different person behind closed doors. While the unaired interview certainly didn't paint either fighter in the best light, Cormier doesn't feel vindicated that what he's been saying about Jones was proven to be true.
Much like Jones' infamous Twitter exchanges with fighters like Tyson Griffin, or the times he's been accused of attacking fans on other social platforms like Instagram before claiming that his account was hacked, Cormier believes the post-brawl interview was just the real Jon Jones behaving badly.
Daniel Cormier Believe He is Better Than Jon Jones
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