Jon Jones is widely regarded as one of the most dominant fighters in UFC history, and at the same time, he is also one of the most hated fighters by his peers. One such Jones' counterpart who he had a historic rivalry with was Daniel Cormier, the former UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Champion.
Even though he has retired from MMA and is currently serving as the commentator for the promotion, he has expressed his annoyance for Jones on several occasions. However, in a surprising turn of events, Cormier recently heaped praises on his former opponent, who he fought with two times and lost both bouts.
An unlikely Daniel Cormier statement
The 45-year-old recently acknowledged Jon Jones dominance and stated that his consistency for so many years makes him the greatest fighter of all time. Cormier further compared Jones to former NFL legends Tom Brady and Andrew Whitworth dubbing him "the main event guy."
"I don’t care about how you feel about him, and I might not mess with the dude on that level,” Cormier said. "But how? I think he was the champion in 2011 for the first time. That’s a crazy thought that through all that, all those dudes, three generations of players."
"That’s kind of like Andrew Whitworth who played 20 years, he played for the Rams, he’s not going to be able to do this and get into the Hall of Fame for time served. It’s like Tom Brady playing through 30 years of football. This is not being a lineman; it’s not being an undercard guy. This is a main event guy who has been main eventing for 13 years, it really is an insane thought," he added.
Cormier is now looking forward to Jones' upcoming fights, with his most recent being against the current Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, Tom Aspinall. Notably, this is going to be Bones' third fight after he transitioned to fighting in the heavyweight category in March 2023, where he became the Heavyweight Champion after defeating Ciryl Gane through a submission in the first round. Following that, he also defeated Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309, which is dubbed as Jones' biggest heavyweight achievement.