Written by Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier will go down as one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history, but there will always be a few questions surrounding their feud.
What if Jones hadn’t tested positive for banned substances after their second fight? What if they’d fought a third time? And what if that trilogy bout took place at heavyweight, where Cormier once reigned as champion, instead of light heavyweight?
Jones, currently holding a UFC heavyweight title, responded to a fan question in a Geoffrey Woo YouTube vlog, asking what would have happened if he and Cormier fought in their primes in the UFC’s big boy division.
“Peak Bones vs. Peak DC at heavyweight?” Jones said. “I believe I beat Daniel Cormier at heavyweight worse than I beat him at light heavyweight. I feel like my speed has transferred over in a way that his hasn’t. I think I beat him up pretty worse at heavyweight. I kick harder. I know he punched harder as a heavyweight, but I kick a lot harder. You all see what my kicks did to him in the [second] fight.”
Jones and Cormier fought on two occasions, at UFC 182 in 2015 (when Jones was defending the light heavyweight title) and at UFC 214 in 2017 (when Cormier was the reigning champion). Both fights ended in Jones victories, the first by decision and the second via a spectacular head kick knockout in the third round. However, the rematch was later overturned to a no-contest when Jones failed a drug test.
That meant Cormier retained his belt, which he subsequently successfully defended against Volkan Oezdemir before moving up to heavyweight to defeat Stipe Miocic for his UFC title. Cormier defended that belt once against Derrick Lewis before dropping it back to Miocic and then losing a trilogy bout against Miocic, putting any chance of a third Jones fight to bed.
Cormier retired in 2020, while Jones went on to become heavyweight champion in 2023 with a quick submission of Ciryl Gane. He then successfully defended against Miocic at UFC 252 in what would turn out to be Miocic’s final fight.
Jones reflected upon the more challenging moments of his in-cage career, crediting them with providing motivation he couldn’t find otherwise.
“I’ve tasted defeat in the ring in the moments when my fights have come close,” Jones said. “Alexander Gustafsson being the first time it happened. Daniel Cormier, some people feel Daniel could have won those fights. Dominick Reyes, a lot of people feel like Dominick Reyes won that fight. You have a whole fan base of people swearing up and down that you lost those fights, it definitely motivates me to make the next fight that much more dominant.
“Personally, I’ve never had a fight that I lost or I didn’t perform well and then haven’t come back and not performed well. If you catch me in an off day, know that when I’m back, you’ll see me at my absolute best.”
Currently, Jones is facing plenty of criticism for not signing on to fight Tom Aspinall, the interim champion who has a far deeper résumé at heavyweight. Jones is confident that even with his 38th birthday approaching this July, he’s capable of delivering more vintage performances.
“For example, with Ciryl Gane, people thought that I looked older, they thought that I looked slower, not as smooth as normal,” Jones said. “I came back against Stipe Miocic and people were, like, ‘That looked like the Jon Jones of old.’”