Jon Jones welcomes Daniel Cormier to the club of champions.
At UFC 226 main event on July 7, 2018, Daniel Cormier made history after knocking out heavyweight Stipe Miocic in the first round to win the UFC Heavyweight title and also become a two-division champion simultaneously.
After the fight, DC (Daniel Cormier) tells his nemesis, Jones no more paper champion ‘I hold the cards now.’
Malki Kawa, Jon Jones manager appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show to share Jon’s reaction for DC’s win over Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title, and reminding the MMA world that he already beat him twice inside the Octagon. (Via MMAMania) Malki Said:
“I guess now we can say welcome to the club. He’s actually a champion. He won the Heavyweight championship and no one can take that way from him, he is the heavyweight champion of the world,”
“So that was one thing. He said:
‘Malki, this is the best that that could’ve happened because now I have the choice to come back and kick his ass at Light Heavyweight or heavyweight.’
So he was just happy, excited.”
Jon Jones and DC share the fiercest rivalry in MMA history. As far as Jon feeling some sort of jealousy toward DC by doing what he didn’t get the chance to do at 265-pounds, Kawa Malki was quick to dismiss that notion.
“He beat the guy twice, he is not jealous. When people look at their rivalry an stuff, even Daniel, this is something aside from Jon. this is very real,”
he added. “I wish he would’ve done this earlier, as light heavyweight champion and been like, ‘I understand I won this belt this way, but it’s not your fault.’ He is the heavyweight champion and no one can argue that, that is reality,” he said.
“But when you beat a guy twice and the second time was more than convincing than the first time, Jon is not the type of guy that says ‘It should’ve been me.’ He says, ‘Great, now it’s my time to come back and it’s my choice to be heavyweight or light heavyweight.’ And that’s awesome.”
Malki says Jon Jones isn’t too happy about what happened on Saturday at UFC 226 due to there bitter past, but as a competitor, respect factor has to be there.
“These guys are competitors, and I wouldn’t say he is happy, but he is definitely not sad about it. He doesn’t have a feeling one way or another, I think he is just like, congratulations to the guy,” added Malki.
“His words to me were, ‘He is officially part of the club.’ And I asked him what club? And he said, ‘champion.’ He wont this belt and it’s legitimate. I was glad to see Jon’s attitude be that way becasue I share the same sentiment,” he concluded.
Jon Jones last fight was at UFC 214 in 2017 where he KO’d Daniel Cormier but after he tested positive for a steroid drug Turinabol, the win was overturned to no contest.
The timetable for Jon’s return is still unclear as he still has ongoing issues with United States Anti Doping Agency. That said, Malki is confident things will get resolved soon.
“I’m very confident we will have a decision on this thing by the end of this month,” Kawa said. “They’re pushing hard. I know everyone involved is working hard to come to a resolution. I know that the UFC is anxiously waiting and we’re dealing with USADA on a daily basis. They’ve been really good with us as far as really investigating this thing and looking at it from a lot of different angles and stuff.”
“To me this program should not try to punish guys that they know aren’t trying to cheat,” Kawa explained. “To them, the right thing could be he’s innocent but he’s still going to have suspension because he was negligent. So, you can get punished for being negligent, you can get punished for cheating. We’ll see what they come up with this time.
“I’m hoping he gets cleared in the next month or so and that the opportunity to fight presents itself. If it’s next year, early next year or whatever it is, I’m confident.”
If Jones doesn’t get cleared to fight within the next seven to eight months, he could miss out on the chance to defeat Daniel Cormier for the third time as Cormier has set a deadline to retire by March of 2019.
Jon Jones also finally break his silence on Monday, but it wasn’t to praise or bash DC, instead, Jones put his future in the hands of his faith via Twitter:
“Just keep in mind that life is a journey and not a race. If it’s in Gods will for me to still be here and healthy, please believe that they’ll be many more fights to come. Let’s not forget I’m still the youngest guy in the top 5 at HW & LHW”
Just keep in mind that life is a journey and not a race. If it’s in Gods will for me to still be here and healthy, please believe that they’ll be many more fights to come. Let’s not forget I’m still the youngest guy in the top 5 at HW & LHW @UniqueMazique 🙂🤙🏾
— BONY (@JonnyBones) July 9, 2018
It’s hard to imagine Jones will stay silent for that.
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