Former two-division UFC champion, and ESPN analyst, Daniel Cormier thinks Jon Jones needs to stop using his Twitter fingers and let fighting in the Octagon do the talking for him.
Light heavyweight GOAT Jones (26-1) has not fought in almost two years. The two-time champion is in the midst of a very slow physical transition to the heavyweight division. However, while he has been inactive in the Octagon since Feb. 2020, “Bones” has kept a consistent presence in the spotlight via his Twitter account with opinions on his fight career and the performances of his contemporaries.
On Saturday night, following the conclusion of UFC 270, Jones was active with his Twitter thumbs as he took some shots at heavyweight title unification bout participants Francis Ngannou (17-3) and Ciryl Gane (10-1). “If this is the Apex of heavyweight fighting, I’m excited about it. Got some more records to break,” Jones wrote following Ngannou’s unanimous decision win.
Daniel Cormier tells Jon Jones to talk less and fight more
“The Predator’s” first successful title defense, and Jones’ comments, were the subject of conversation on ESPN MMA podcast “>DC & RC — which is co-hosted by Cormier. During the discussion, the retired former heavyweight champion unloaded on his long-time rival and explained that Jones needs to talk less and do what Ngannou and Gane are doing — just fight.
“For me, it’s about Jon Jones needs to fight. At some point ya gotta fight,” Cormier said. “Even when he and I were going through our thing. He would get suspended, and then he would come back and he would fight. Even if that meant fighting Ovince Saint Preux whenever I was hurt. Bit ultimately he was fighting. Now he’s just talking. It’s like when are you going to fight? Because for as bad as it was, Francis had a torn meniscus, Francis was hurt, Francis had a bad training camp, all these things. Francis still fought.
So you can say, ‘Well, they’re not that good.’ But ultimately, they are still in there doing their thing. Why aren’t you in there doing your thing? You are one of the most talented mixed martial artists of all time. Why aren’t you in there doing your thing against these guys, as opposed to judging them?” he added. “For all the bad blood between Francis and the UFC right now, Francis still went out there.
“He went out there, he fought hurt and he got a victory. If you’re going to judge the apex predator that Francis is, know that you’re judging a wounded apex predator. You may think that he’s not as good now because of what you saw, but maybe you’re just putting yourself up for a bigger disappointment when you do finally make that jump.”
Cormier and Jones twice fought over the UFC light heavyweight title in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Both bouts were won by Jones, however, the 2017 rematch was overturned after Jones tested positive for the steroid Turinabol.
There is still no time frame on when Jones is expected to return to action.
Does Cormier have a point about his former foe needing to talk less and fight more?
