Daniel Cormier has changed his mind when it comes to Jon Jones.
And no, it’s not about Jones’ troubled history with performance-enhancers or the law for that matter. Cormier believes that his former foe can do great things upon his long-awaited move to heavyweight.
It’s been a while since Jones has been in action, more than two years to be exact since he defeated Dominick Reyes at UFC 247. With the clock ticking more and more, many are left to think Jones is a heavyweight pretender rather than a contender since his schedule is left to be blank.
‘My Opinion Of Him Has Changed’
However, DC thinks ‘Bones’ can hang with the best heavyweights in the world despite the long layoff.
“My opinion of him has changed in this regard. I think that he’s so talented that regardless, he’ll be okay,” Cormier said on The MMA Hour. “I also believe that he’s going to make sure that he still can compete.”
You know what’s crazy, like, everybody [is] talking about three years, three years, but there are other people that have come back. Georges St-Pierre won a championship after being away all that time.”
Past Rivalry
DC has quite the past when it comes to Jon Jones. The two fighters would go on to put on one of the greatest rivalries the fight game has ever seen with Cormier and Jones going at each other constantly— verbally and physically. They first fought in 2015 where Jones defeated Cormier by unanimous decision.
The second time around would be more competitive and a whole lot more controversial. After a back-and-forth battle in the first two rounds, Jones would turn the tide in round 3 securing a TKO victory over Cormier… which was later overturned due to Jones testing positive for a banned substance.
Even with the history between them, Cormier would give Jones some credit as the former UFC Champion looks to make his heavyweight debut after years away from the Octagon.
