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After submitting Anthony Johnson at UFC 187, Daniel Cormier issued an admonition to Jon Jones to "get [his] shit together." Well now it sounds like Daniel Cormier is tired of waiting for Jones to do so.
Cormier was set to defend his title against Jon Jones at UFC 200 this previous Saturday; however, days before the event Jones was removed from the card by USADA for a failed out of competition drug test. Anderson Silva stepped in on short notice to face Cormier and Cormier won a decision over Silva in a 3 round non-title fight which left many fans wanting more. Yesterday, Cormier spoke with Luke Thomas on his radio show on SiriusXM about Jon Jones and the cost of their rivalry.
"We've been scheduled to fight 4 times. We've fought the once. The first fight obviously he got hurt, then he beat me in January. I got hurt the second time, and now this. It just seems as though we can't make money together. We do good business when we do fight but we just haven't been able to get to the octagon. It's the weirdest thing and it keeps our story going and the reality is I don't think we really want our story to keep going. It's so draining and taxing mentally to be involved in this rivalry that we have."
The rivalry between the two is well documented and has been a lucrative one, drawing 800,000 pay-per-view buys and a $3.7 million gate for UFC 182 (a card without much other drawing power attached to it) and UFC 200 was tracking to be one of the biggest pay-per-views in company history before Jones was removed from the card. That drawing potential is likely to be neutered now though because Jones' failed drug test means he is staring down a lengthy suspension, possibly for 2 years though circumstances have allowed other fighters like Yoel Romero to get only 6 months. But even if Jones is lucky enough to have a short suspension, Cormier says he doesn't intend to wait for him, though he does still want to fight him.
"Before, I was like, ‘I've gotta fight Jones! I've gotta fight Jones!' and I still want to fight Jones. I want to fight Jones. Even if I was to finish my career with one loss only and I never fought him again I would still feel sick a little bit because I would never have gotten the opportunity to right the wrong that I feel that that fight was. But at the end of the day I can't control that. I can't want for him more than he wants for himself.
"You don't put yourself in those situations and I can't really count on him to be there. I can only control what I can control and fight whose there to be fought. Just like last year. Last year I fought who was there to fight. The people I fought were there to be fought: Rumble and Alexander. And then after Rumble and those guys fight I'll be there to fight against the people that are eligible to fight and we'll see what happens from there.
"I'm not willing to wait at all [for Jones]. Even if they suspend him for just a few months, I don't care. I'm probably gonna fight somebody different first. I need to separate myself from this a little bit, for me. For me and my mind, my mentality. I think I need to separate myself from him a little bit. It's so emotionally taxing with everything that has happened and it hasn't come to pass."
Cormier's desire...
LINK to full article: Morning Report: Daniel Cormier won't wait for Jon Jones, will fight 'the people that are eligible to fight'
