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OS ANGELES – At UFC 165, UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones is scheduled to fight Alexander Gustafsson, after which he may or may not try his hand in the heavyweight division.
Although he doesn't want to talk about it, he already has a problem with someone in that class: Daniel Cormier.
Asked what he thought of Cormier's recent request to cut the line for a shot at the light-heavy title if successful against Roy Nelson, Jones said: "DC is a guy who really wants to be famous. I don't think he wants to work hard. I think he just wants to be famous. You can see it in his physique; you can see it in his card."
Jones then paused, obviously irked by the question.
"He's trying to get his Twitter followers up," the 26-year-old champ said. "That's about it."
It's hard to pinpoint exactly where the conflict between the fighters arose, but Cormier (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has been vocal about a fight against Jones (18-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC), who's been dismissive of the possibility.
But that hasn't kept Jones from taking shots at Cormier on Twitter. In May, he tweeted, "Someone ask DC when his diet starts #Wolftickets," which prompted Cormier to offer an on-the-spot fight at 220 pounds.
Today as part of the UFC's current "World Tour" at Club Nokia at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, Jones took things a step further while griping about the topic of the two-time Olympian.
"I hate answering questions about him," Jones said. "He's just not relevant to me. There's so many great fighters in the light-heavyweight division. He's not even top five in his division. I'm not sure if he is.
"He has, like, 20,000 Twitter followers. He has short reach, bad cardio (and) he looked terrible in his last fight. It's like, I'm not worried about him at all."
Cormier, 34, wrestled at 211 pounds on the international circuit as well as in the Olympics, but was forced to withdraw from the 2008 Olympic team when he suffered kidney failure while cutting weight for the competition.
For the record, he has over 57,000 followers on Twitter, and he is ranked No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA heavyweight rankings. In the UFC's official rankings, he is No. 2 behind champion Cain Velasquez and top contender and upcoming title challenger Junior dos Santos, making him effective No. 3 there, as well.
Transitioning to MMA in 2009, "DC" fought at heavyweight, though he's entertained the idea of going to 205 pounds, particularly if it involved a fight with Jones.
According to the owner of an MMA apparel company, the two already came to close to exchanging punches outside the cage. Todd Rexx, who runs TrauMMA Combat Apparel, said Jones rebuffed him at the 2011 World MMA Awards based on his relationship with Cormier. Cormier then confronted Jones.
"Daniel walked outside and grabbed Jon by the arm, and spun him around and was like, "Dude, you got a f------ problem with me?'" said Rexx.
"Jon said 'Yo, I think that you, (Muhammed) "King Mo" (Lawal) and Rashad Evans, ya'll full of yourselves.' He just talked s--- about Daniel."
But according to Jones, the apparel rep's recollection of the incident is a little bit brighter than his.
"[Cormier] had an altercation with me," Jones said. "I don't even know who him and his friend was at the time. Obviously, if they're doing interviews about it, it's a bigger deal to them than it ever was to me, and ever will be to me."
So, for now, it appears that Jones is content to treat Cormier as a pest. His big deal is the defense of his title, which takes place Sept. 21 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Although he doesn't want to talk about it, he already has a problem with someone in that class: Daniel Cormier.
Asked what he thought of Cormier's recent request to cut the line for a shot at the light-heavy title if successful against Roy Nelson, Jones said: "DC is a guy who really wants to be famous. I don't think he wants to work hard. I think he just wants to be famous. You can see it in his physique; you can see it in his card."
Jones then paused, obviously irked by the question.
"He's trying to get his Twitter followers up," the 26-year-old champ said. "That's about it."
It's hard to pinpoint exactly where the conflict between the fighters arose, but Cormier (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has been vocal about a fight against Jones (18-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC), who's been dismissive of the possibility.
But that hasn't kept Jones from taking shots at Cormier on Twitter. In May, he tweeted, "Someone ask DC when his diet starts #Wolftickets," which prompted Cormier to offer an on-the-spot fight at 220 pounds.
Today as part of the UFC's current "World Tour" at Club Nokia at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, Jones took things a step further while griping about the topic of the two-time Olympian.
"I hate answering questions about him," Jones said. "He's just not relevant to me. There's so many great fighters in the light-heavyweight division. He's not even top five in his division. I'm not sure if he is.
"He has, like, 20,000 Twitter followers. He has short reach, bad cardio (and) he looked terrible in his last fight. It's like, I'm not worried about him at all."
Cormier, 34, wrestled at 211 pounds on the international circuit as well as in the Olympics, but was forced to withdraw from the 2008 Olympic team when he suffered kidney failure while cutting weight for the competition.
For the record, he has over 57,000 followers on Twitter, and he is ranked No. 3 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA heavyweight rankings. In the UFC's official rankings, he is No. 2 behind champion Cain Velasquez and top contender and upcoming title challenger Junior dos Santos, making him effective No. 3 there, as well.
Transitioning to MMA in 2009, "DC" fought at heavyweight, though he's entertained the idea of going to 205 pounds, particularly if it involved a fight with Jones.
According to the owner of an MMA apparel company, the two already came to close to exchanging punches outside the cage. Todd Rexx, who runs TrauMMA Combat Apparel, said Jones rebuffed him at the 2011 World MMA Awards based on his relationship with Cormier. Cormier then confronted Jones.
"Daniel walked outside and grabbed Jon by the arm, and spun him around and was like, "Dude, you got a f------ problem with me?'" said Rexx.
"Jon said 'Yo, I think that you, (Muhammed) "King Mo" (Lawal) and Rashad Evans, ya'll full of yourselves.' He just talked s--- about Daniel."
But according to Jones, the apparel rep's recollection of the incident is a little bit brighter than his.
"[Cormier] had an altercation with me," Jones said. "I don't even know who him and his friend was at the time. Obviously, if they're doing interviews about it, it's a bigger deal to them than it ever was to me, and ever will be to me."
So, for now, it appears that Jones is content to treat Cormier as a pest. His big deal is the defense of his title, which takes place Sept. 21 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
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