John Jones aims to be like Daniel Cormier.
Inside the octagon, “bone” and “DC” are two of the UFC’s most intense rivals. But outside the cage. …Now, they don’t like each other yet, but Jones believes that the two can resolve much of the lingering hostility in face-to-face conversations.
“I want to thank Daniel Cormier for spending this time on my part and motivating me,” Jones told Gofrey Wu. Daniel Cormier, he has no reason to hang his head. He was a model champion, model husband, model father, teammate and leader. He’s an amazing person, so I want to be like that guy. Unfortunately, we are opponents, but other than that, he is the true champion of his life.
“People try to make Daniel and I become these absolute cerebrals. When you see competitive athletes throughout history, they all come out of the sport. I have no malicious intentions towards Daniel. I think he is a very stand-up individual.
The nasty history of John Jones vs Daniel Cormier
John Jones and Daniel Cormier competed in the second round. Their first encounter fell at UFC 182. Jones ultimately won the match with a unanimous decision to retain his light heavyweight title, but a month later it was revealed that Jones had tested positive for cocaine a few weeks before the match.
Four months later, “Bones” was scheduled to protect the belt against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. However, Jones is stripped of his strap after a hit-and-run incident in which he collides with a pregnant woman and escapes the scene on foot. As a result, Colmier intervened for Jones and defeated Johnson to become the new light heavyweight champion.
This set the stage for the rematch between Jones and Colmier, which went down at UFC 214 on July 29, 2017.
Less than a month later, it was revealed that Jones had been flagged for a doping violation by USADA, which originated from a sample collected on July 28th shortly after the measurement.
USADA later confirmed that both Jones’ “A” and “B” samples were positive for the anabolic steroid Trinabor. As a result, his victory over Cormier was overturned to a non-contest, and the UFC again stripped him of title Jones.
The promotion has put the belt back to “DC.” “DC” added an indisputable heavyweight championship to his resume, and successfully defended it against Volkan Oezdemir before retiring from the sport in August 2020 as one of four fighters who will simultaneously hold two UFC titles.