Champion D.C. Says No To New York Jones Scrap

Jon “Bones” Jones was stripped of his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship earlier in April this year when he allegedly fled the scene of a three-car accident that he caused. The former champion recently learned that he would only be serving probation rather than jail time and has received the go-ahead to start training for his return to action.

Jones was originally scheduled to go toe-to-toe with Anthony “Rumble” Johnson at UFC 187 in May, but was replaced by Daniel Cormier due to his suspension. Cormier got the better of “Rumble” that night and walked out of the cage with the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship draped over his shoulder, ready and willing to defend it against all challengers.

Alexander Gustafsson was surprisingly named the next challenger by UFC brass and in typical “Mauler” fashion, he brought the fight to Cormier. The two put on a legendary battle that some are calling one of the best championship defenses of the year and it could have gone either way when the horn sounded, signaling the end of the final round of action. In the end, it was Cormier who would have his hands raised but he immediately went over to embrace Gustafsson for putting in such an amazing effort.

Cormier has defeated the two top names in the division and is the true champion; DC believes Jones should have to fight in his home court to get his title back.

“Why should I allow this guy to go and fight where he’s comfortable?” Cormier said during the post fight presser. “No, he has to go somewhere where he has to look at people in the eyes and hear the anger they have toward him for the actions that he did.”

Cormier wants Jones to come back to the octagon with the rage of the crowd raining down on him, and he believes New York’s Madison Square Garden would be the only venue that wouldn’t happen.

“I just think at the end of the day, when Jones gets reinstated, New York is the only place that he’ll be welcomed without just venomous anger,” Cormier said. “This is where he’s from. So they will actually care for him. They will cheer him. Just as you take me to Lafayette, Louisiana, it doesn’t matter what I do. They will cheer me.”