It’s no secret that Jon Jones finds himself in a lot of trouble. Before his more recent legal troubles, there was his rivalry with Daniel Cormier, which culminated in a rare overturning of a UFC championship bout by the CSAC.
Before we get to UFC 214 and the drama that ensued from that fight, let’s rewind and cover the whole story. Despite his troubles, Jones is still fighting in the UFC and getting even heavier to do it, so check him out next time you’re looking at MMA odds.
Table of Contents
The First Fight
Like with so many rivalries, it all starts with a first fight that introduces bad blood between the two athletes. This was supposed to be UFC 178, a September 2014 event that was billed as a rematch between Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. Gustafsson pulled out due to injury, after which Cormier was substituted.
In a promotional event for this event, the two stared each other down. Then Jones pressed his forehead against Cormier’s forehead, who shoved Jones in the throat, which Jones responded to with a punch. Jones was fined for instigating the scuffle. Before UFC 178 could happen, Jones pulled out after citing a leg injury.
With UFC 178 a bust (well, besides a great Demetrious Johnson kimura on Chris Cariaso and Conor McGregor’s first bout against Dustin Poirier) the fight was pushed to UFC 182 instead.
The January 2015 event, which was one of the UFC’s longest, saw the two finally trade punches. The fight went all the way, Jones winning by unanimous decision. That also made Jones the first person to take Cormier down, which happened three times during the fight.
It was then revealed that Jones had failed a drug test for cocaine before the fight. Though the metabolite was out of his system for the fight, he entered rehab for a day and was fined.
Rematch Attempts
Shortly after UFC 182, Jones was going to defend his title against Anthony Johnson at UFC 187, but then Jones was suspended for a hit-and-run incident. Cormier stepped in to take Jones’ place, beating Johnson and taking the now-vacant light heavyweight championship.
The suspension lasted six months, after which Jones was scheduled to face Cormier at UFC 197. Like UFC 178, this event was disrupted by injury after Cormier hurt his foot. Ovince Saint Preux replaced him and was beaten by Jones in a UD.
Again, the rematch was organized for UFC 200, but Jones was then suspended and had his title stripped again. .
The Rematch
Finally, the rematch is scheduled for July 2017 at UFC 214. The fight went for three rounds, with a knockout in the third round that saw Jones emerge as the light heavyweight champion yet again. After being knocked out, Cormier was tearful and said that there is no rivalry if Jones wins both fights. Jones praised Cormier after the fight and announced he wanted to fight Brock Lesnar.
However, if you haven’t noticed a pattern yet, Jones was then flagged for a doping violation. This one was more serious than the others, having tested positive for a form of an anabolic steroid called Turinabol. Jones was suspended and then the result of his fight with Cormier was overturned. Dana White also decided to strip the light heavyweight championship again and hand it to Cormier.
After The Rivalry
That was the last time that Jones met Cormier in the cage. Cormier would go on to beat Stipe Miocic and become the second fighter to hold two UFC titles at once. After defending against Derrick Lewis, Miocic came back for the title and won. After losing another rematch to Miocic at UFC 252, Cormier retired.
Jones went on to get that fight with Gustafsson, winning to become light heavyweight champ for a second reign. He defended it successfully, then vacated in 2020 with ambitions of gaining weight and moving to heavyweight with hopes of taking on Francis Ngannou.
Unfortunately, Jones has had further run-ins with the law. After a domestic violence arrest in 2021, Cormier expressed concern for his old rival. He commended Jones as a fighter but said that his talent works against him. Without getting beaten (having just 1 loss, a DQ) Jones’ bad behavior outside of the cage hadn’t interfered with his fighting, so it went unchallenged. He implied that if he, or other challengers, had beaten Jones, maybe some introspection could have stopped Jones from clashing with the law.
Conclusion
That’s the rivalry between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier in full. While Cormier prefers commentating nowadays, it remains to be seen if Jones will fight again. Between legal troubles and pandemic disruptions, he might not fight in the UFC again, if at all.
That said, Jones’ in-cage record is almost spotless. With 26 wins and 1 loss, it would be interesting to see what a heavyweight Jones can do in the UFC if he just keeps his nose clean when he’s out of the cage.
