Daniel Cormier nearly walked out on Kamaru Usman’s podcast after ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ compared Jon Jones to NBA legend Michael Jordan.
Despite their last scrap inside the Octagon coming nearly eight years ago, the fiery feud between ‘DC’ and the undisputed heavyweight champion is far from over. Cormier has regularly disputed Jones’ status as the consensus GOAT of MMA, often citing his past substance abuse violations and his string of run-ins with the law.
So it should come as no surprise that Cormier was ready to walk off the set when Usman suggested that Jon Jones is the Michael Jordan of mixed martial arts.
“As far as UFC, as far as mixed martial arts is concerned,” Usman said while speaking with ‘DC’ on a recent episode of his Pound 4 Pound podcast.
“Don’t say no crazy sh*t,” Cormier quickly interrupted.
“Jon is at the level where Conor [McGregor] is at to choose what he wants to do,” Usman continued.
“I thought you were about to say he was on the level of Michael Jordan and I was about to leave,” Cormier said.
“To be honest, Jon is the Michael Jordan we’ve seen in MMA,” Usman replied.
“No he isn’t,” Cormier argued. “I’m about to leave. Are you done with the interview? Do you just wanna be done? So you’re telling me Jon Jones is the Michael Jordan and Lebron James of MMA? You’re gonna sit up here in real life on five cameras (and say that)?”
Kamaru Usman said Jon Jones was the Michael Jordan of MMA, and Daniel Cormier almost ended the interview 😭😭
"I'm about to leave. You done with the interview?"
🎥 @pound4poundshow #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/TLiBDek42S
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 26, 2024
The History of Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones
The rivalry between Cormier and Jones began a decade ago when the two went toe-to-toe for the light heavyweight championship at UFC 182. ‘Bones’ won the bout via unanimous decision, but they were scheduled to run it back at UFC 200. Unfortunately, the fight was scrubbed from the history-making event after Jones tested positive for a banned substance.
Jones was slapped with a one-year suspension, but that only delayed the inevitable.
Their sequel eventually went down on July 29, 2017, at UFC 214. Jones would have a much more decisive victory this time around, KO’ing Cormier in the third round. However, it was later revealed that Jones had tested positive for Turinabol, an anabolic steroid. Subsequently, the result was overturned to a no-contest by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the light heavyweight title was handed right back to Cormier.
Cormier would go on to retire following an iconic trilogy with Stipe Miocic, but despite being a former two-division champion and a UFC Hall of Famer, ‘DC’ has seemingly never gotten over his losses against Jon Jones—and he likely never will.
Watch Cormier’s full podcast appearance below:
