Daniel Cormier still doesn’t like Jon Jones, but ‘hate’ may be a strong word to use after the two spent a month in Thailand together filming a season of the ALF Reality Ultimate Fighter clone.
Cormier and Jones are back in the headlines because ALF Reality creator Alfredo Auditore has been talking up a wrestling match between the two for a seven figure purse. According to Cormier, that’s not going to happen because Jones would get blanked 10-0 on the wrestling mat. “Bones” reportedly wants the bout
to be a submission-only grappling match, which “DC” said no to … because he knows he couldn’t win.
“If you’re gonna pay me seven figures to wrestle against Jon Jones, I’m in,” Cormier said in a new YouTube video. But if you’re gonna tell me that you want to compete against me but only in something where you don’t run the risk of losing? Because I’ll tell you this right now: I probably will not submit Jon Jones. I don’t believe I can.”
“I know his body style, and he’s a good grappler. He’s a world champion. He’s tremendous. But I do know that if I get him on the ground and I have to ride him and control him, I can do that. But if I take him down and I ride him and control him for ten minutes, and then we get up and lift both of our hands [in a draw], then what’s the point?”
That’s big of “DC” to admit, and Cormier also revealed he doesn’t have the same overwhelming disdain for Jones now.
“After spending that time with Jones over there in Thailand, honestly, he annoys me still, but he’s not as bad as I originally thought,” Cormier said. “Because when you’re around someone with that amount of time, obviously, you grow and you learn more about them. I saw the video of him saying how stuffy I was and how horrible I treat the people around me, which isn’t true. But even me, with all the history, I still can tell you straight up that he ain’t what I thought he was before, to me. I don’t have the level of dislike for him that I had maybe in the past.”
With negotiations for a wrestling match in a stalemate, Cormier is taking the results of the ALF Reality show as enough of a victory (spoilers ahead).
“Jon Jones and I went to Thailand and did a show,” he said. “We were able to work alongside each other cordially and get the show done, which just wrapped very recently, which the result was I had both guys in the finals, and my guy beat Jones’s guys. And then I coached the guy to win the whole competition. So reality is, in that area, I already won. Okay?”
“When you see two guys that have been at each other’s throats for so long, you start to wonder [what] other ways they can compete. But remember: Jones beat me in the fight. Everything we have done since, I have beaten him in.”
