Jon Jones is willing to squash beef with Cormier, but he has one condition

Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier share one of the most visible rivalries in MMA. In fact, it might be the sport’s most intense rivalry outright.

The pair’s rivalry will come to a head this July 29, when Cormier attempts to defend his light heavyweight title against Jones – the only man he’s lost to – in the main event of UFC 214. No matter the outcome of this fight, that rivalry seems poised to continue long after the fact. The two fighters just really don’t like each other.

Surprisingly, however, Jones recently admitted that he is willing to squash his beef with Cormier post UFC 214. He only has one condition for this reconciliation.

He explained this condition in a recent interview with Duane Finley of FloCombat.

“This rivalry ends at UFC 214 and after [the fight] I honestly have no problem with Daniel Cormier,’ he said. “If he wants to be friends, be a sportsman and realize I’m just the better fighter, that would be great. It would show a lot about who he is. I doubt he’ll do that though based on how he acted the first time I beat him.

“I’d be willing to bet the house he’s going to come up with some kind of excuse or reason why he lost this fight. I have friends who are all over social media and they tell me both Luke Rockhold and Cain Velasquez have been injured and haven’t been training a lot. I really hope he really doesn’t use that as an excuse. 

“I’m hoping he can finally look himself in the mirror and say, ‘Goddammit…maybe I should have caught Jon Jones back in 2008 when I was failing to make weight at the Olympics. Maybe when I was at that age I was the guy to beat him. Maybe I just tried this thing too late in life.

“I just want him to get honest with himself and be grateful for the time he did get to spend with the belt.”

What do you think of these comments from Jon Jones? Do you think his rivalry with Cormier continues after UFC 214?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/19/2017.