Daniel Cormier: ‘I don’t know how to beat Jon Jones’

Everyone including the current UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has not been able to crack the code on physically beating former champion Jon “Bones” Jones. Matt Hamill is the only one that has a win over Jones on record, but that came after Hamill was brutalized by elbows from Jones that were ruled illegal. The illegal elbows by Jones caused him to be controversially disqualified from the bout, resulting in his only loss, which was back in 2009.

Cormier was scheduled to fight Jones in a rematch at UFC 197 on April 23rd but withdrew from the bout after suffering an injury in training. Cormier spoke with FOX Sports on the riddle that is Jon Jones and how his replacement Ovince Saint Preux will do when he faces Jones at UFC 197.

“I never downplay what Jones is to this sport and what he’s been to this sport,” Cormier told FOX Sports. “As a competitor I have to be honest with myself, this is a tough one for Ovince. He’s obviously a big, long guy that could cause some issues for most people, but Jon is who he is for a reason.”

Although Jones and Cormier have one of the most heated rivalries the UFC has seen, Cormier is honest with himself and in Jones’ abilities.

“He’s the greatest fighter to ever put on a pair of gloves. This one is tough for Ovince to get done. This will be a very, very difficult task for him.”

Cormier stirred the pot when he offered to coach and help Saint Preux prepare for Jones with his fight camp at AKA, but says that even he doesn’t surely know if he has the perfect gameplan to beat Jones.

“Even if I don’t help Ovince Saint Preux and I can’t help him beat Jon because I don’t know how to beat Jon Jones, I didn’t do it,” Cormier said. “I can only prepare myself as best I can to try and prepare to beat him.

“Like I said, I didn’t beat him the first time so I don’t have some secret serum to give Ovince, but I would try to help him because even by me being there, it bugs him.”

Until Cormier is healed up and meets Jon Jones again in the Octagon, Cormier says all he can do is sit back and take notes on cracking the “Bones” code.

“I’ll be watching it just to see how Jon competes after being away so long. I can only watch it as a spectator. That’s all I can do. I can’t go there and fight and I’ll watch it as a spectator and try to enjoy it as much as I can. I’ll try to see if he does anything differently. I’ll try to see if there’s anything I can exploit when we have our time.”