Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo aren’t done bickering over the big boys.
It’s an interesting time for the UFC heavyweight division with two champions sitting at the very top. We have undisputed champ Jon Jones, who won the vacant title against Ciryl Gane in March and had to cancel his first title defense with Stipe Miocic due to injury.
On the other hand, Tom Aspinall broke through by winning the interim title with a first-round knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295.
‘You Have To Beat The Best’
With Jon Jones being sidelined for quite some time, many fans think Tom Aspinall is the best heavyweight in the world right now and some even believe that Jones should be stripped of the undisputed title. However, Cejudo doesn’t very much like the sound of any of those things since he still has yet to lock horns with ‘Bones’.
“First of all, I believe Tom Aspinall is the future for the heavyweight division, but he has to prove it,” Cejudo said in a face-to-face interview with Cormier. “You have to beat the best. That’s all I’m saying, Daniel.”
Cormier And Cejudo Collide!
Despite holding interim gold, Aspinall might be the odd man out for a minute in the heavyweight title conversation. That is, until Jones vs. Stipe Miocic happens whenever the heavyweight champ does come back (eventually).
This hot topic at heavyweight would lead into an argument between Cormier and Cejudo.
“There there’s gotta be something that those guys only willing to fight each other has to matter in this whole equation,” Cormier pointed out. “It has to matter. What I’m saying to you is, do you think Stipe’s gonna fight him or is Stipe gonna wait for Jones? Because Stipe could fight him. What if beats Stipe, [is he] still not the undisputed champ?”
“You gotta beat Jones— 14 title defenses,” Cejudo replied.
“So, is Jones not the undisputed champion?” Cormier responded to Cejudo. “He didn’t beat Francis. He didn’t beat Francis. Jones is hurt.”
“Francis left,” Cejudo said. “How you gonna beat somebody who’s fighting for another organization? It doesn’t make any sense to him. Bring him back.
“Henry, by your logic, in order to be undisputed, you gotta beat the guy,” Cormier said.
Cejudo: DC ‘Talking Theory, I’m Talking Facts’
Of course, ‘Triple C’ wasn’t about to bend the knee to DC in this argument.
“You’re talking theory, I’m talking facts,” Cejudo sounded off. “For Francis to really call yourself the best in the world, knowing that Jon Jones is coming up, you fight him for the title. Look at what he was able to do to a guy in Ciryl Gane and beat him out a minute and a half where it took Francis a split decision and all five rounds. Come on Daniel.”
Cormier: ‘This Is Not About Jones…’
It’s no secret that Jones and Cormier had a heated rivalry back when they were still at fighting at light heavyweight. But, Cormier expressed to Cejudo that he holds no ill will when it comes to the name of his former foe.
“I know what you’re doing now. Now you’re trying to frame this as if I’m hating on Jon Jones when I’m not,” Cormier said in response to Cejudo. “This is not about Jones. I think Jones and Miocic are right to fight each other and each other only, I don’t think they’re wrong. I do believe that Tom Aspinall took no damage. He now has the ability to go and defend that belt if he wants— he was hurt going into the Octagon.”
The Former Champs Reach A Compromise
After going through the argument, Henry Cejudo finally came to a conclusion on how to handle the future of the UFC heavyweight division.
“So, this is how we fix it. This is how we work it. Getting a chance to coach Jones, Tom Aspinall was the most dangerous fight for Jones, 100%. The way you make it right is you make Tom Aspinall put that interim title on the line with a guy like Stipe, wait for John Jones to come back, the winner gets Jon Jones. There cannot be two belts out when you have the greatest of all time, who has been proven, who has never lost to anybody.
“It’s just hard. My biggest thing is it’s just hard to do that.”
Daniel Cormier was a fan of this idea.
“That would be ideal for Tom Aspinall,” Cormier added.
Would Stipe Miocic vs. Tom Aspinall be ‘ideal’ until Jon Jones returns?
