Once upon a time, getting Daniel Cormier to say positive things about Jon Jones would have been a long shot. Now that their heated rivalry has long been put to bed, Cormier can’t help but admit he’s impressed with Jones’ longevity as a UFC champion.
Cormier and Jones’ past has been well-documented. They were at each others throats when they were championship competitors at UFC 182 and UFC 214. Cormier has since hung up the gloves and entered the UFC Hall of Fame, but Jones is still going at it, as a champion in a second division.
Speaking with his former “DC & RC” co-host Ryan Clark, Cormier gushed over Jones’ longevity at the top of the mountain.
“For me, DC, being a UFC fan who started with Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, then moved into the era with you and Jon, we had these champions that you could count on,” Clark said on a reunion episode of “DC & RC.” “It was the Kamaru Usman, it was the Alexander Volkanovski, it was the Israel Adesanya and we’ve transitioned from those guys. Now we’re with Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira is one of the greatest fighters that’s ever lived. It’s really cool though that through all that, Jon Jones is still around and we’re still waiting for the next big Jon.”
“How? How? How’s that possible?!” Cormier interjected.
“This dude literally – like, hey man, I don’t care how you feel about him. I might not have messed with the dude on that level, but how?! It’s been – I think he was a champion in 2011 for the first time. That’s a crazy thought! That through all that, all those dudes, I mean three generations of players.
“… It’ll be like Tom Brady playing through 30 years of football. Three different generations of players at quarterback, because it’s not like being a lineman. It’s not being an undercard guy. It’s a main event guy that has been main eventing for 13 years? That really is an insane thought.”
Jones first claimed UFC gold by defeating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the light heavyweight title at UFC 128 on March 19, 2011. As we enter 2025, Jones is still a UFC champion, but in the heavyweight division.
Clark asked Cormier to explain how hard it is to accomplish a championship longevity in MMA.
“It’s almost impossible, especially to do it for a long time,” Cormier said. “That’s why when you watch a guy like Usman or Volkanovski, where they just kind of go, and they’re rolling, right? It seems like they’re unbeatable.
“… The whole time that you’re up and you’re the man, and you’re laying in that big, beautiful house, there’s a young man that doesn’t have what you have. As you’re doing a lot, as you’re still trying to be the best, he’s doing like a little bit more because he wants for what you have. It’s like having a guy just walking you down constantly. So, it’s very difficult. You have to continue to get better.”
