Yup. Daniel Cormier went there.
Cormier and Jon “Bones” Jones traded verbal jabs Wednesday at a press conference to announce their main event fight at UFC 200 on July 9. Things really got personal when Jones, who was stripped of his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in April 2015, asked Cormier what he’s going to tell his kids when they ask why he never was able to beat his upcoming opponent.
“I’m going to say, ‘You know what? When I won the belt, I didn’t have to. The idiot eliminated himself from competition by being an idiot,’ ” said Cormier, who won Jones’ vacated title at UFC 187. “I’m going to say, ‘I didn’t have to. He’s an idiot. He’s an addict. He’s a druggie. I didn’t have to beat the kid.’ ”
Warning: video below contains strong language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GLwGzjQ-QA
Jones won the fighters’ previous head-to-head matchup at UFC 182 in January 2015. It was another successful title defense for Jones, who originally won the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship from Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 in March 2011.
But it soon came to light that Jones tested positive for benzoylecgonine (the main metabolite in cocaine) before UFC 182. He briefly entered rehab after the news became public, though Jones maintained in a subsequent interview that he wasn’t an addict and rather just made a “really dumb decision.”
Jones, who has acknowledged his past love for marijuana, ultimately was stripped of his title following a hit-and-run incident. He defeated Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197 earlier this month, though, setting up the unification bout between him and Cormier at UFC 200.
This wasn’t the main event UFC president Dana White originally had in mind for UFC 200, as Conor McGregor was supposed to fight Nate Diaz in a much-anticipated rematch until the Irishman was pulled from the card last week following a bizarre holdout. However, it should be entertaining.
Cormier and Jones clearly don’t like each other. For them, this fight is personal.
