Over the last six years, Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones have exchanged blows inside the octagon and engaged in verbal warfare outside of it.
But even though the two UFC legends are bitter rivals, Cormier wasn’t ready to celebrate after hearing about Jones’ recent DWI arrest in New Mexico.
When asked about Jones’ latest downfall by Ariel Helwani of ESPN, Cormier took the high road and exuded class and sportsmanship toward his rival.
“Seeing him get into trouble again, a lot of people in my circle text me almost celebratory, but that’s not me,” Cormier said, as transcribed by MMA Fighting. “I didn’t celebrate the kid getting into trouble again. I don’t think you should celebrate or dance on someone’s grave in their darkest moments. Because you don’t do that to people.
“It’s not just him. He’s got daughters. He’s got a fiancée. He’s got so many things at home that are affected by this and affected by his actions and his behavior.”
Cormier also painted a grim picture for the future of Jones, who has a history of run-ins with the law throughout his professional fighting career. This was Jones’ third vehicular arrest in the last eight years. In 2012, he was charged for driving under the influence and in 2015, he was arrested after being involved in a hit-and-run.
“This kid has a problem. Regardless of how I feel, it’s not going to change until somebody takes a drastic action … It’s only going to continue to escalate until it’s something that he cannot recover from.”
Cormier and Jones have fought twice. The first time was at UFC 182 in 2015 when Jones defeated Cormier via unanimous decision for the light heavyweight belt. The rematch took place at UFC 214 in 2017, but Jones’ knockout win was ruled a no contest after a positive drug test.
