‘Bones’ Quote: I’ll Fight Daniel Cormier In His Living Room
Former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ long-awaited rematch with current champion Daniel Cormier may have been unceremoniously scrapped from next weekend’s (Sat., April 23, 2016) UFC 197 from Las Vegas exactly two weeks ago, yet even though ‘Bones’ will now take on Ovince St. Preux, it would seem as if at least some of his focus is still fixated on ‘DC’.
With MMA finally being signed into legalization in Jones’ home state of New York this week, the illustrious but troublesome legend predictably aimed for the UFC’s anticipated New York debut at Madison Square Garden as the location of his inevitable grudge with Cormier, who is dealing with a foot injury for the next two months.
Blasting the champ during today’s (Fri., April, 15, 2016) UFC 197 media conference call (via MMA Fighting), Jones threw a barb at ‘DC’ by saying that while he probably wouldn’t fight him in New York, he’d be wiling to take him on anywhere:
“”Yeah, I would be honored to main event against Daniel Cormier at Madison Square Garden. The question is, you know will Daniel Cormier accept that fight. Daniel Cormier has had a lot of mental struggles when it comes to me and uh…” (laughs) “…that’s just one more thing that he doesn’t need. I’m sure he doesn’t want to fight me in my backyard, because he needs all the mental breaks he can get.
“So, who knows. I doubt he’d fight me at Madison Square Garden. But like I said, I’ll fight him wherever. The Oklahoma State wrestling room, his living room, whatever.”
Jones then turned his attention to the expected hot topic of his legal troubles outside the cage, where he was arrested on felony hit-and-run charges in Albuquerque last year before landing in jail for violating the probation he received for the first offense by supposedly drag racing after practice recently.
Read on to the next page to see what the troubled legend had to say about his seemingly never-ending legal battles….
The decorated champ, who lost his belt only due to his personal trouble, showed a bit of confidence — or arrogance, depending on your point of view — by stating that he’s already a hall of famer who can only stop himself be getting into hot water outside of the Octagon, a view that is hard to argue with:
“Only thing I need to do is just right things outside the Octagon,” he said. “I could never fight again and be put in the hall of fame. I’m not saying that to sound arrogant, but we all know it’s true. I have to do the right things outside the Octagon. That’s it. Nobody hearing my name in the news ever again, that’s a huge victory for me, and I’m going to try my hardest to make sure that happens.
“Outside of that, when it comes to actually fighting, I don’t really feel like I have much to prove to anybody. I’ve done some pretty amazing things in this sport, and fighting is a journey. You have your ups and downs, you have your wins and losses, and fortunately I’ve never lost. But wins and losses at this point in my life doesn’t really define who I am. I think I’m a champion the rest of my life. What goes into defining who I am is how I get my life under control outside of fighting.”
