Jones Slams Cormier, Promises “Malicious, Violent Things”

“Your sad reality is that everything in your power will not be enough,” said Cormier. “Because I’m still going to beat you.”

“Dana texted me, Lorenzo Fertitta called me and asked me what happened,” said Jones. “I basically told him the situation. I told him I’ve been in many staredowns, I’ve witnessed many staredowns. I did not expect to get hit in the throat. I told him, as a man, champion or not, that’s not going to stand. I can see it now. If I would have allowed him to hit me and not retaliated, there would have been a lot of people who respected me for walking away, but there would have been a lot of people who would have called me a coward or a wuss for allowing that to happen. Outside of what anyone else thinks, I couldn’t allow that to happen. I told Lorenzo Fertitta if anyone ever hits me then I’m going to do what I have to do to protect myself.

“For the most part, a lot of people are loving this. They’re eating it up. I’ve had Indianapolis Colts call me and all these football players call me. Just people from all over calling me. So excited, so much more anxious to see the fight. In a way, it was a good thing. In a very opposite way, it was a terrible thing for the UFC.”

“Jon and I can do stuff on Instagram,” said Cormier. “We can poke fun at each other on Twitter. We can build a fight. But at the end of the day, they’re going to lock the cage with him and I in it and we get to settle our differences. We’re not going to do it once. We’re going to do it twice because I’m going to beat him in September and then we’re going to fight again at the beginning of the year. Then he’ll realize he never wants to get locked in the cage with me again.”

“I’ve fought many great wrestlers before,” Jones responded. “I think there’s a huge difference between a great wrestler who’s learned how to throw a few punches and kicks and a martial artist. I embody the spirit of a martial artist, the heart of a martial artist, what it truly means to be a martial artist. I’ll give up my arm. I’ll give up an eye. I’ll give up a toe. It doesn’t matter.

“There’s nothing you can do to stop me, Daniel Cormier. There’s absolutely nothing you can do. You said you could take me down 100 out of 100 times, right? That’s what you’re going to do, right? I challenge you to get me down five times in that five-round fight. You won’t be able to do that. Maybe you will get me down once. I believe in my whole heart that I’ll get you down, too. But the difference is, when I get you down, your face will open up. There is nothing you can do to stop me from coming at you round after round with the most malicious techniques I know. You will lose this fight, Daniel Cormier. I want you to believe it. Every ounce of training you put in leading up to this fight will be a waste of your life.”

“This is what I want,” said Cormier. “I want a dog fight. If you can bring a dog fight to me, please do it. I live for this. Please do it. Nobody can test me in that way. It’s going to look easy and people are going to be scratching their heads.”