Jon Jones views fighting primarily as his profession, but he confesses that his heated rivalry with Daniel Cormier was profoundly personal and genuinely exposed his less admirable traits.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in history, Jones has rarely faced true adversity inside the octagon. He typically approaches each opponent with a focused, job-like attitude – there to compete and win. However, everything shifted when it came to Cormier. Jones admitted that he despised the two-time Olympian so intensely that it motivated him to train even harder, determined not to lose when they finally faced off in the cage.
“Daniel Cormier, I swear he`s aged me in a way,” Jones shared in an interview with Vic Blends on YouTube. “I fight because I love it. I do what I do purely out of love – I love this gift, the chance to compete, the fans, the earnings, everything. I just love it. But with Daniel Cormier, a different feeling emerged for the first time: pure hatred. I simply couldn`t stand the thought of losing to this man.”
“I recall doing extra workouts, even on Christmas Day, simply because I hated him so much at that point and couldn`t imagine losing to him. That intense feeling pushed me to beat him, but it`s not an energy I ever want to operate from again.”
Jones recognizes that this strong dislike was mutual, having heard Cormier express similar sentiments about their feud publicly.
“I know he feels the same way about me,” Jones commented regarding Cormier. “I`ve heard him say in interviews, `I genuinely hated Jon Jones.` It was stressful, and those training camps were demanding. It probably took years off our lives just operating with that level of hatred.”
One of their most notorious confrontations occurred during an ESPN interview where a verbal clash was accidentally recorded, as the fighters didn`t realize they were still live.
The now-famous exchange was later released, and Jones recounted that his desire to actually harm Cormier during that incident was completely sincere.
“We had a moment leaked from behind the scenes where I literally told him I was going to kill him,” Jones stated. “We thought the cameras were off, but we were still live. He asked if I was next door, and I said yes. Then he challenged, `Are you still there, p*ssy?` and I responded, `I`m still here.` He said, `I wish they`d let me next door so I could spit in your face.`”
“I considered how often I saw him face-to-face and the possibility he might actually spit on me at some point, especially with more media events planned. I told him, `Bro, if you do that, I`m going to f*cking kill you, I`ll absolutely kill you.` And I meant every word. That was too dark for sports and felt very real.”
Jones ultimately fought Cormier twice in the octagon, winning both bouts. However, his knockout victory in 2017 was later changed to a no-contest following a failed drug test.
Regardless of the official records, Jones insists he never felt such intense animosity towards any other opponent, emphasizing that his deep-seated hatred for Cormier was entirely genuine and not manufactured for show.
“Daniel Cormier and I ran into each other on the street once. Thank goodness we both had our teams around to keep us separated,” Jones recalled. “He was the only fighter I ever felt could lead to a street fight.”
“Then, we actually did fight in the MGM Grand lobby before our scheduled bout. Daniel Cormier was one of those guys where `on sight` truly meant `on sight.` Anywhere, any time.”
Given that Cormier went on to secure titles in both the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, Jones could certainly view his wins over Cormier as significant achievements in his career.
Despite the success, Jones admitted he wasn`t particularly fond of himself during the height of their rivalry, even though they created one of combat sports` most intense historical feuds.
“It was entertaining to watch,” Jones concluded. “But it wasn`t that much fun being a part of.”
