Daniel Cormier credits ‘smart’ Jon Jones after Alex Pereira fight pitch: “I would’ve done what Jon is doing!”

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier gave his former adversary, Jon Jones props on his latest callout of UFC light heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira.

Jones is expected to defend the UFC heavyweight title later this year, most likely against Stipe Miocic. The two heavyweights were scheduled to clash at UFC 295 in November before Jones withdrew due to injury.

Jones secured the then-vacant UFC heavyweight title by tapping out Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 last year. The win capped off a three-year hiatus from competition to make the full-time move to heavyweight.

Ahead of his anticipated return, Jones made a surprising callout of Pereira during a recent series of social media posts. He called a showdown with Pereira the ‘next biggest move’ for his career aside from the Miocic fight.

Daniel Cormier weighs in on UFC rival Jon Jones’s Alex Pereira callout

https://youtu.be/TzOiC1dq2o0?si=diX19SPLCbpGZHU0&t=787

During a recent episode of Good Guy/Bad Guy with Chael Sonnen, Cormier weighed in on Jones’ latest callout.

“He’s smart!” Cormier said of Jones. “If I’m an Olympic wrestler, or a national champion, and I’m watching the landscape of things. Valuing the money versus the fame, the championships and everything else, I’m doing exactly what Jon Jones is doing. I’m saying to myself ‘I’ve been in there with the most scary, dangerous men in the world. I’ve been in there with extremely well-rounded guys, tremendous kickboxers, super heavy punchers. I’ve been able to manage that. But who I haven’t been in there with is a guy that is a straight kickboxer.’ While he has improved tremendously in his grappling, no one would ever say that’s Alex Pereira’s strength. His strength is his striking, and he can knock you out…

“If you can get away from that, it’s much less risky than fighting a guy with a full skillset, that’s complete. That’s exactly what Tom Aspinall looks to be. So I love what Jon is doing in terms of being smart, finding the right matchup, but I don’t know that it’ll fly.”

A potential obstacle to Jones’s desired Pereira fight is interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, who is set to defend the interim belt at UFC 304. His opponent has yet to be announced but is expected to be shared by the UFC in the coming weeks.

If Aspinall successfully defends the interim title, a showdown with Jones would likely be on the UFC’s to-do list. But, Jones has expressed indifference when the Aspinall matchup has been proposed by different voices.

Pereira defended the light heavyweight belt by knocking out Jamahal Hill at UFC 300. He’s called for a rematch with former titleholder Jiří Procházka for his next Octagon assignment.

A super fight between Jones and Pereira would be one of the biggest in UFC history, and Cormier feels Jones is making the right move by calling out the feared Brazilian titleholder.