Jon Jones remembers his first interaction with Daniel Cormier vividly.
Jones challenges “DC” for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight title tonight (July 29) in the main event of UFC 214. “Bones” took the time to recall how the beef between himself and Cormier started during a conference call (via MMAFighting.com):
“I think Daniel’s right. It’s not a rivalry. Like I said at the whole beginning of this thing, I tried to be nice to him as a young, black kid, seeing that he’s Cain Velasquez’s coach and he was a wrestler who had far greater credentials than me. I thought I was going to freaking meet this guy and I thought we were going to be cool. I thought we were going to have a new inside joke every time I saw him. And his pride and his whatever, pre-notions, ego, that he had about me before — I didn’t know who he was, he knew who I was when we met.”
As far as Cormier’s dislike for him is concerned, Jones said the feeling is mutual.
“I never had a problem with him. I don’t have problems with people that I’ve beaten already. I don’t got a problem with Glover (Teixeira) or Chael (Sonnen) or Andre Gusmao, none of those guys. He has a problem with me, and I hate him because he hates me.”
