Daniel Cormier accuses Jon Jones of giving up belt due to fear of Dominick Reyes rematch

Daniel Cormier believes that his rival Jon Jones vacated the UFC light heavyweight title because he didn’t want to rematch Dominick Reyes.

After defending his title earlier this year at UFC 247 with a decision win over Reyes, Jones surprised the MMA community this summer when he officially vacated the 205lbs title, which put it up for grabs at UFC 253 in a vacant title fight between Reyes and Jan Blachowicz. In an upset, Blachowicz knocked out Reyes in the second round to win the title.

Since Blachowicz finished Reyes to take the title, Jones has been active on social media and has teased a return to 205lbs after saying he was moving up to heavyweight. Speaking on his latest podcast, Jones’ long-time rival Jones jumped in with his theory on why Jones actually vacated the 205lbs title. According to Cormier, Jones gave it up to duck Reyes.

“That’s so whack. Have you ever met a guy that’s so out of touch? He’s so out of touch. It’s like, OK, Jon, then why not just go, ‘I was afraid of Dominick Reyes. Now I want to go back to 205 and fight Jan Blachowicz because he beat Dom’? That’s crazy. I mean, who does that? Who does that?” Cormier said (via MMAjunkie.com).

“He could have fought Reyes. This could have been him and Reyes (Saturday). This was supposed to be him and Reyes. Instead, he gave up the belt. He gave up the belt and said, ‘I want to fight at heavyweight.’ Now, ‘Maybe, I’ll go back?’ How could you be so out of touch? I don’t get it.”

Although it certainly is strange that Jones is considering returning to 205lbs so soon after the title fight at UFC 253, it’s hard to accuse a guy like Jones of ducking anyone considering he has fought the toughest opponents in the UFC for the last decade. Then again, maybe there is more to what Cormier is theorizing than Jones has let on.

Do you agree with Daniel Cormier about why Jon Jones vacated the 205lbs title?