Daniel Cormier offered up some rather encouraging words to his bitter rival, Jon Jones, after the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion admitted himself into a drug rehabilitation center after testing positive for cocaine metabolites prior to the UFC 182 main event title fight.
This, despite the fact that Jones dominated the former Olympian last weekend (Sat., Jan. 3, 2015) for five rounds (video highlights) and proceeded to continue the "bad blood" between them by saying he still didn't like him and hoped the defeat would make "DC" cry.
A few days after losing his first-ever mixed martial arts (MMA) fight to "Bones," Cormier is still coping and recuperating, but stopped by "UFC Tonight" to talk about the defeat and the subsequent news that Jones had failed a pre-fight drug test.
His words:
"You know man its been tough. It was a tough fight. I think you owe it to yourself to let it burn a little bit, let it hurt. Because if you try to move forward too fast, it doesn't have the affect that you would hope it has and allow you to rebuild yourself afterward. Yeah, it's been pretty tough for a number of reasons. I think I started early and I tried to gauge his speed and his abilities early in the first round. He started to get off toward the end of the first and I felt I was doing well. I though I fought extremely well in the second and third round. Fourth round, I just didn't fight, took the round off and I allowed him to take momentum of the fight. And in the fifth round, I really didn't do much of anything. So, if there is anything that I can take from the fight it was that I had fought as I did in the second and third round continuously. There are some things that I have to do internally to actually improve and make myself better in these long fights. But more than anything, I'm disappointed because as well as Jon fought, I didn't fight my best fight. The first three rounds of that fight were very competitive, and to say I was fighting at my best, that's something to draw off of."
When asked if fact that Jon had failed a drug test prior to the fight for cocaine -- which isn't a banned substance under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) guidelines -- added more pain to the loss or played any part in it, Cormier was quick to to say no.
Furthermore, "DC" was very complimentary of Jones' performance and his abilities to be a star outside of MMA; but is disappointed that he keeps finding himself in difficult predicaments that keep him from being a mega star.
He explains:
"Nah man, the fight is what it is. He won the fight. I didn't believe by any way, shape or form that I won that fight. But, it's unfortunate, this is a guy that has the ability to reach people at a different level. We all praised Anderson Silva for being the greatest fighter of all time and we praise all of these other people, but, not many people can actually reach outside of the sport of mixed martial arts, and I believe that Jon's one of those people that can do that. It's just very unfortunate that these incidents keep happening after he has these unbelievable performances, it just kills his momentum. He should be a star among stars. He should go into places like the ESPY Awards and be recognized along with some of the greatest basketball players and football players in the world. But, because of the things he does outside of the Octagon, it holds him back."
Daniel concluded by saying that there will always be hard feelings between the two men after all they've been through; and that one fight would not be enough to settle them. That's why the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) captain says another showdown between the two is inevitable.
"Those feelings don't 100 percent go away because we fought once. Jon and I still have things to deal with and I think the only way we will ever do that is if we stand across from each other in the cage again. Hopefully, the outcome will be different."
For now, Jones has an entirely different battle on his hands, as it is unclear how long he will be out of action.
When he does return, he is expected to defend his 205-pound title against the winner of the upcoming 205-pound tilt between Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Johnson; which goes down at UFC on FOX 14 on Jan. 24, 2015, in Stockholm, Sweden.
More on that fight card here.