Daniel Cormier: Take away Jon Jones ‘the fighter’ and all you have is a college dropout who ran someone over

After defeating Anthony Johnson for the second time via rear-naked choke at this past Saturday’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 event in Buffalo, New York (see it again here), Daniel Cormier has now shifted his full attention to his next potential challenge, Jon Jones.

But it’s not like “DC” wasn’t already thinking about “Bones” beforehand, as the two exchanged verbals jabs through the media leading up to Cormier’s rematch with “Rumble.” Still, Daniel stated during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour that he 100-percent wants to face Jones next, but it’s “Bones” who needs the fight more, not the other way around as was the case in the past.

“I’ve gotten to a point in my life to where this guy has no control over me anymore. If he can’t never fight, that’s on him. I’ve got three gold UFC titles, I’ve got everything else, my family, my money, my jobs for the future, everything,” explained Cormier, who says once you strip the label of a “fighter” from Jones, all you have is a college dropout who ran someone over.

“I don’t need that guy, that guy needs to fight and he needs to come back to fight me. This thing doesn’t define me as a human being. I think Jon Jones, he needs to be Jon Jones the fighter because there is nothing else. If you take away Jon Jones the fighter, what is there? Jon Jones the college dropout? Jon Jones the man who actually ran over some chick in her vehicle? Like, who is he? He needs this to define him. When you strip away everything else, there are layers to who I am. He needs this more than me, I don’t need him anymore.”

With his one-year suspension for failing a drug test that cancelled his rematch against Cormier at UFC 200, Jones seems to be straightening out all of his issues, including his battle with certain drugs. While Cormier would love to believe Jones is a changed man, at the end of the day, “DC” says a leopard cannot truly ever change its spots.

“First and foremost, he will never change completely because he never, truly has taken full responsibility for what he’s done. He’s saying he didn’t get the maximum penalty, that’s 100-percent not true,” proclaimed Cormier. “He got the max USADA could give him for what he did. We all know it. That’s what I don’t understand about people; how do you turn, look in the opposite direction when the truth is literally staring you right in the face? It’s simple, he got the maximum sentence, don’t lie.”

And its jokes like this one -- according to Cormier — that further proves his point, as “Bones” made light of his use of “dick pills” during a recent media scrum.

“He was up there trying to do some spin, trying to be a politician, no, he may not change. You know who he is, when he was on Joe’s show, joking about the pills, it was the classic, ‘look at my left hand while I do something with my right hand’ type of scenario. He’s just showing you the same trick that he has before, with his terrible ass media training he’s had before. I don’t know if that lady is fired or made him worse at his job,” said Cormier.

Indeed, even UFC president Dana White doesn’t have enough faith in his former 205-pound champion — and one of the biggest stars on the roster — to put him in the headlining spot.

Is normal?