Daniel Cormier talks Jon Jones: It's unfortunate these incidents keep happening
Like most of the mixed martial arts world, Daniel Cormier was both shocked and disappointed to hear the news that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine just four weeks before their matchup at UFC 182.
Cormier lost the fight to Jones by unanimous decision although he wasn't informed about the positive drug test until after their bout already ended and the results were made public on Tuesday.
Regardless of Jones' recreational drug use, Cormier takes nothing away from his performance and doesn't believe the fact that he does or doesn't use cocaine played any factor in the outcome of their fight.
Cormier is more concerned about the public image issue that Jones portrays when he performs in one of the biggest UFC cards of all time and then three days later ends up in rehab after it was revealed he was doing cocaine.
"No, the fight is what it is. He won the fight. I didn't believe by any way, shape or form that I won that fight, but first thing just how unfortunate," Cormier told UFC Tonight about Jones' positive test. "This is a guy that has the ability to reach people at a different level. We all praise Anderson Silva for being the greatest fighter of all time and we praise these other people, but not many people can actually reach outside of the sport and outside of the world of mixed martial arts and I believe Jon is one of those people that can do that."
Jones' public persona has taken hits similar to this in the past as well.
In May of 2012, just weeks after Jones had another of the biggest fights of his career when he beat former teammate Rashad Evans at UFC 145, the light heavyweight champion was arrested and charged with driving under the influence following a crash of his 2012 Bentley Continental into a telephone pole in upstate New York.
Cormier looks at that incident along with the latest situation as just another example of Jones shooting himself in the foot when he should be standing on top of the world.
"It's just very unfortunate that these incidents keep happening after he has these unbelievable performances. It kills his momentum," Cormier said. "He should be a star amongst stars. He should go into places like the ESPY awards and be as recognized as some of the greatest basketball players in the world.
"Because of the things he does outside of the Octagon, it holds him back."
Jones is currently in a treatment facility in New Mexico dealing with the fallout from the drug test. The UFC still holds the right to punish Jones for the incident based on the company's athlete code-of-conduct policy but as of now there have been no penalties issued against the 205-pound champion.
