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Dana White: Jon Jones wants Daniel Cormier instead of Alexander Gustafsson

5K views 98 replies 30 participants last post by  King Daisuke 
#1 ·
http://mmajunkie.com/2014/06/dana-w...niel-cormier-instead-of-alexander-gustafsson?

It’s not contract negotiations holding up a potential rematch between UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones (20-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) and Alexander Gustafsson (16-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC), according to Dana White.

The UFC president today told UFC.com that instead, it’s Jones’ desire to fight Daniel Cormier (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) rather than Gustafsson.

“Just to clear up a couple things, people think we’re in contract negotiations with Jon Jones – we’re not,” he said. “Jon Jones still has five fights left on his contract. So what we’re doing right now is trying to get him to sign the bout agreement for Gustafsson. He doesn’t want to fight Gustafsson. … Lorenzo and I have a meeting with Jones on Thursday to get him to sign the bout agreement, and he’s asking to fight Cormier instead.”

(The reason people thought the delay was due to contract negotiations was because that’s what White said a week ago. “We’re doing a new deal with him,” White said on May 24 when asked about the holdup.)

Fans have been clamoring for the Jones-Gustafsson rematch ever since their September scrap at UFC 165 ended in a “Fight of the Year” candidate – and a very narrow win for Jones.

However, former heavyweight Cormier entered the title picture following his UFC 173 victory over Dan Henderson, which moved “DC” to 2-0 at light heavyweight and 15-0 overall. Although Cormier was expected to fight the Jones-Gustafsson winner, “Bones” has expressed interest in fighting the Olympian and former Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix winner first.

The UFC, meanwhile, had long been planning on a Jones-Gustafsson rematch – pending wins for each fighter in their most recent bouts. In March Gustafsson took care of his half of the bargain, knocking out Jimi Manuwa in London. And in April, Jones dominated Glover Teixeira at UFC 172 to set up the rematch.

This past month, officials said they were planning for it to finally take place Aug. 30 at UFC 177 in Las Vegas and that Jones simply needed to accept it.

However, it appears Jones, who’s been relatively quiet in recent weeks, prefers a different opponent.

Gustafsson, meanwhile, keeps pressing for the rematch.

For more on UFC 177, stay stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
I wouldn't complain...
 
#3 ·
OK. Now that the rematch has been announced he comes with the old "I want this, instead of that", contract signing delay, but in the end will "reluctantly" accept the fight against Gus only because his bosses forced him to. Yeah - we get it, Jones. You are so, dying to face Cormier since he dropped to LHW. :laugh:
 
#5 ·
I'd rather he fight Cormier first honestly. Cormier isn't getting any younger. The sooner he fights Jones, the better. Plus this gives the rematch more time to build up. I'm guessing if Jones fights Cormier then Gus would prob get a fight in the mean time too. Jones and Gus can come off two impressive wins and finally meet up for their long awaited rematch at the big, year-end show.

This is all assuming that Jones can get past Cormier.
 
#7 ·
Jones thinks this will be the easier fight, and I'd agree with him. I have NO idea where everyone's assumptions that Cormier is a great boxer is coming from. I see Jones destroying him whenever they are on the feet. I think Cormier will defo get a takedown or two in there, but I don't think he'll score from the position at all. I'd assume 3-2 in rounds to Jones, with Cormier being a blanket in his two.

Gus actually posses huge threads to defeat Jones at his own game.
 
#9 ·
I'd prefer he just sign and fight. In the end, I don't believe Bones will outright refuse to fight Gus; he just prefers to fight Cormier. Gus has done NOTHING to warrant a rematch. Just because some fans are "clamoring" for it doesn't mean it'll happen; it's not some huge Silva-Sonnen type rematch. Gus lost decisively (despite what Bones haters want to make themselves think) and then beat a no-namer on a program nobody subscribes to. Bones would rather try to add another name to his list, and I don't blame him. Dana just wants the Gus fight because there are barely any stars in the US, so the UFC is trying to create regional overseas ones instead.
 
#11 ·
Sorry for the double post, but you can't actually believe that Jones won decisively? I'm a bit Jones fan. He might well be top 5 all time, without question the greatest LHW of all time...but he in no planet won that decisively. I called it a draw, and could EASILY have given Jones' rounds to Gus.
 
#15 ·
You claimed it was just "Jones haters", but you're in the minority of people, every Jon Jones fan included, that thing it was a decisive win. I'd personally prefer for him to fight Cormier while Gus fights someone a little bit more reputable (I'm a big Poster Boy fan too), and I agree with the sentiment that Jones won't want to do any rematches (I believe this is something he said in regards to Machida in the past too). But Gus in a lot of people's eyes won that fight, and didn't lose it in the eyes of people including myself.

To say Dana White is just trying to big up Gus is ridiculous. Why would he want to put all his eggs in the basket of promoting the quiet Swede over the talkative Olympian American?
 
#16 ·
You claimed it was just "Jones haters", but you're in the minority of people, every Jon Jones fan included, that thing it was a decisive win. I'd personally prefer for him to fight Cormier while Gus fights someone a little bit more reputable (I'm a big Poster Boy fan too), and I agree with the sentiment that Jones won't want to do any rematches (I believe this is something he said in regards to Machida in the past too). But Gus in a lot of people's eyes won that fight, and didn't lose it in the eyes of people including myself.

To say Dana White is just trying to big up Gus is ridiculous. Why would he want to put all his eggs in the basket of promoting the quiet Swede over the talkative Olympian American?
Even less people know Cormier than Gus, and he's getting up there in age a little bit, and he has been somewhat boring in the UFC so far.

Gus is young, looks like a top guy, is on the video game cover, Dana (pathetically) listed him in the top 5 stars UFC has, they're going for regional draws like Gus and McGregor, and Dana knows Bones/Gus 2 would draw a little better than Bones/Cormier. That's why.
 
#21 ·
Oh my god i cant even express how obtuse i find this opinion.

I think Cormier is heads and tails a more dangerous fight for Jones than Gus who Jones already beat.

I found gus vs Jones to be close but not close enough to be called anything but just that, a close fight that Jones won even wile fighting with serious injury.

Gus isn't owed a rematch but the fans want it because it was competitive but I think Cormier should get the shot before someone who already lost.
 
#23 ·
Jones wants to fall back onto his ever evolving poking game. That works best against shorter opponents using the range game. Jones hated being beat up by Gustafsson. Now we know why Jones did not even wanna mention Gus name in interview.

That said, I still think Jones vs Cormier is a good fight and I look forward to that fight as well.
 
#29 ·
Jones quite clearly wants nothing to do with Gus. Ducking him plain and simple and he quite clearly thinks Cormier is the much easier fight, to which I agree.

Cormier is a poor mans Cain Velasquez. Yes, he's got some nice take downs and slams and has good ground control, but in terms of MMA wrestling, Jones is superior. In terms of striking, he's superior. Cormiers ground and pound is virtually non existent.

If Jones beats Cormier and stops ducking Gus and beats him in the rematch, there has to be a Velasquez superfight.
 
#30 ·
I'm good with either opponent. More so Cormier.... Jones already holds a win over Gus.
 
#32 ·
I actually wouldn't mind this. The sooner DC gets outclassed, the sooner the bickering here can stop about how good he is for beating Commings and Hendo and some non-contender HW's.

It won't be a good fight, or a competitive fight (which is probably why Jones wants it), but it would be nice to see Cormier humbled.

That said, isn't Cormier hurt?
 
#35 ·
Cormiers wins over Barnett and Big Foot were very impressive, but I still don't think his UFC run has been any thing to get a stiffy over.

His win over Mir was an absolute snoozer, seemed to play it safe for three rounds. His win over Nelson, same thing. Neither were overly impressive victories, no where near as impressive as Big Foot/Barnett. Then he crushed a can at LHW and slammed Hendo a couple of times and choked him out. Hendo, the same guy who was out wrestled by Shogun and Jake Shields. He also wanted NOTHING to do with Hendo's striking. He seemed rather tentative in the striking against Nelson too. Cormier also doesn't react well at all to getting hit.

No doubt, he's a very good fighter and has more than solid wins and his record and is deserving of a shot, but I highly doubt he starts slamming Jones all over the octagon. The thing is, people are awe struck by how visually pleasing these few slams are he's pulled off, but what's he doing when he's on the ground? His ground and pound is far from impressive, he has decent subs, but really nothing for Jones to worry about being a monster grappler himself.
 
#38 ·
Jones has defended the belt 7 times now and that is also the number of times GSP had defended the belt when the UFC let him choose to fight Diaz over Hendicks. So there is a precident, but I don't think Jones has quite the good will with the UFC that GSP had at the time. The UFC151 thing probably didn't gain him much favor with the bosses. Although in hindsight we can now see how much of a mismatch it was and wasn't really worthy of a PPV.
 
#48 ·
To Gus fan: All the judges had it 49-46. Even if you had it 48-47, who cares? I thought Hendricks was robbed against GSP. If GSP stuck around, I do NOT think Hendricks should have gotten an immediate rematch. As challenger, it's your job to go take the title, not "stay competitive" and hope the judging goes in your favor. If Gus beat someone remotely meaningful in-between, then fine. But he did not. Ever since Shogun/Machida, everybody clamors for a rematch every time a fight is close or has even like 10% controversy.

To Daisuke: Jones looking worse after the fight is irrelevant. Hendricks looked worse after the Lawler fight, but clearly Hendricks won. It's a sport/competition, not a "whose face looks worse". I don't want to steer off topic since I know that's not your attention. Also, rematches aren't exciting if they happen so soon, like with Cain/JDS. If Bones fought Gus, that would only be a year in-between fights. Then if Gus won, it'd be six months before they fought again.

If there were no remotely deserving challengers, then I'd be OK with Bones/Gus. But as much as I can't stand and dislike Cormier, he should be getting the next shot.
 
#58 ·
Wasn't it 2x 48-47 and 1x 49-46?

Anyway, it's not about whose face looked worse. It's about how the "winner" couldn't even walk after the fight. Jones may have won on points, and I can live with that, but do feel Gus did the most damage. I'd like to see it again and that's that.
 
#52 ·
I find this annoying, a whole year building up for a fight, for Princess Jones to flake out and choose DC. Cant ever remember a former champion picking his opponents like this guy.

Also remember alot of former champs rematching tough opponents, when the fights were announced. not fighting a different opponent every fight.

Doubtful I'd remember that guys legacy.. (if that's what hes worried about)



- Non jones supporter/hater
 
#63 ·
Jones really can't do right can he? Almost everyone blasted me for saying Cormier isnt that impressive. They told me that Jones is ducking him, and that he is defo going to take the title when he fights Jones.

Jones may well have had an insanely tough fight with Gus, but the record shows that he won.

Jones is now picking a guy, whom most people think is tougher, that he hasn't faced before. How can he be insulted for that?

JoshuaNumbers said:
Cormier hasn't done anything that realistically should have earned him a title shot at this point.
I didn't say quite that. I'd just like to see DC dominate someone who isn't past it, a complete rookie, or has one punch in their attack.

I'm not even saying anything huge, but look at the options of fights for Cormier to fully earn a title shot. If anyone thinks I'm being unfair to Cormier, people show me where it's disputable that Mir, Nelson, Cummings or Hendo are currently better than these guys.

Glover Texieira - Just fought for the title. Is probably a lot better on the feet and is a big strong guy, so might be able to keep it standing and get a knockout (I think he does).

Anthony Johnson - Completely negated everything wrestling based from his last opponent and looked a million dollars on the feet.

Rashad Evans - Fight was arranged, should be remade. Evans has been exposed a fair bit in recent times and would get destroyed by DC, but still a top level fighter.

Phil Davis - Another guy that I reckon gets destroyed but is a top level guy.

Ryan Bader - I think Bader actually poses some problems for DC. He's a big strong guy, and has good boxing. Would be a great fight to show the absolute best of Cormier imo.

I don't think we're asking too much here. I just want to see Cormier in there with someone I'm not going to pick holes in after the fight. If he was to fight Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Shogun Rua etc. then I'm still going to be saying the exact same stuff.

He's undoubtedly top 4 at LHW though. I'd like to know what people thinks he'd bring to the table against Lyoto Machida.
 
#53 ·
I rather see Gus get the first crack, he deserves it a lot more then DC. I don't care how old he is, he should of dropped to LHW sooner then. Just fight whoever they tell you to fight Bones, I hate fighters picking their fights, you're the ******* champ, you gotta beat everyone anyways.
 
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