The Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier rivalry is alive and well, even if the two UFC fighters have to wait for their long-awaited rematch until later this year.
Jones defeated Ovince Saint Preux in an interim light heavyweight title bout at UFC 197 on Saturday night and he didn’t wait long to turn his attention to Cormier afterward. As he was leaving the Octagon, Jones turned toward Cormier, who was on-hand to provide broadcast commentary alongside Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan, and flipped him the bird.
Both parties seemed to enjoy the gesture, as Jones had a smirk on his face walking away from the cage while Cormier laughed it off with a “how rude.” As for the motivation behind the finger? “I just wanted to be a jerk,” said Jones. Mission accomplished!
The two haven’t fought since 2015, when Jones won by unanimous decision, but have done a pretty good job maintaining an ever-burning feud everywhere outside of the Octagon. Cormier was supposed to oppose Jones in UFC 197 until an injury forced him to withdraw, but a rematch is anticipated before the year is over. Here’s what DC had to say after the fight:
“I’m going to see the doctor Monday, and if they say Daniel Cormier is OK to compete in 11 weeks at UFC 200, I’ll be there,” Cormier said at the close of the show as a message to Jones. “I’ll be there with my championship belt, with my red wraps on my glove as I come out second and you wait for me to walk to the Octagon. We meet here live from the T-Mobile Arena, the brand new arena out here in Las Vegas, and we unify these titles.”
It seems like pretty much everybody is extremely hungry and anxious for Jones-Cormier 2 at this point.