Written by NEW YORK – Daniel Cormier thinks Jon Jones retiring after his UFC 309 title fight with Stipe Miocic would be an injustice.
The possibility of Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) walking away from competition has been heightened as his heavyweight title defense against Miocic on Saturday at Madison Square Garden (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) gets closer. He has outright refused to unify belts with interim champion Tom Aspinall, and said a matchup with light heavyweight kingpin Alex Pereira would be the only thing that would extend his career beyond this weekend.
UFC CEO Dana White said a Jones vs. Pereira matchup is not happening, and issued an ultimatum for “Bones” to either retire or fight Aspinall, should he emerge victorious against Miocic.
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Cormier thinks Jones will eventually fold, and struggles to see him hanging up the gloves, especially with a dominant performance.
“I think he’s going to fight,” Cormier told MMA Junkie on Friday. “I don’t know how or when, but I think he’s going to fight. Listen, you don’t want to get rid of this thing before you have too. Georges St-Pierre was young enough to keep going. Khabib (Nurmagomedov) was young enough to keep going, and those guys left. Not everybody can do that. I think it would be unfair to the sport if Jon Jones left.”
Cormier said he badly wants to see the heavyweight division, where he once ruled as champion, get a proper resolution. That means Jones vs. Aspinall for the unified belt.
“I want to Jon Jones versus Tom Aspinall,” Cormier said. “That’s the fight that I want to see after (UFC 309).”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.