Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier's rivalry may not be at an end.
The pair initially met back in January of 2015 in the main event of UFC 182 for what was Jones' then-eighth consecutive light heavyweight title defense. The lead-up to the fight showed a ton of bad blood between the two rivals, which included a very physical stare down before the fight in which a brawl ensued. "Bones" would go on to win that fight via unanimous decision, handing the former Olympian, Cormier, the first loss of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
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After that fight Jones was stripped of his light heavyweight title after a string of issues in and outside of the Octagon. He was involved in a hit-and-run collision that left a pregnant woman's arm broken and was removed from his scheduled UFC 200 main event rematch against Cormier (who won the vacant title against Anthony Johnson at UFC 187) days prior after failing a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug test.
Jones finally got his life back on track and got his opportunity to rematch Cormier last month at UFC 214 for the light heavyweight title. "Bones" won the fight via third round knockout after landing a thrashing high kick to "DC's" head, before pouring on the ground-and-pound for the finish. Now that Jones has won both their meetings inside the Octagon, his rivalry with Cormier is essentially over.
He recently joined the Sway In The Morning show to talk about his past issues with Cormier, and noted that he'd like to be friends with him now that everything is behind him (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“I’d like to be cool with him. Especially being a young black man, there’s not too many black men in the sport so I think that it’s sad when we’re at each other’s throats. If anything, we should be rallying around each other, supporting each other, and lifting each other up.
“So I would like to eventually get to a place where we can support each other, do charity events together, do an interview together and talk about our beef.
"The same way Mike Tyson and [Evander] Holyfield came together years later and talked about the matches they had, I would love to be able to do something with Daniel Cormier. I think people would like to see us mend things.”
“It was tough to watch him cry though because he’s such a good ambassador of our sport and I feel those one-on-one sports like MMA, boxing, these are sports where you see grown men cry because your success is all on your shoulders, whereas on a basketball team or football team you can blame it on the other guys out there with you.
"You can say, I gave it my all but my team was off that day. But in MMA, it’s all you out there and it’s such a person thing when you’re defeated. The legacy and everything, they’re not talking about your team, they’re talking about you forever.
"So the way men get attached to this sport, it’s a beautiful thing and it just shows how much this means to him.”
What are your thoughts on Jones wanting to be friends with Daniel Cormier now that their rivalry seems to be at an end? Let us know in the comments section below!