Daniel Cormier responds to recent backlash from Jon Jones: “They never ‘proved’ him innocent”

Former two-weight UFC champion Daniel Cormier has responded to the latest criticism he’s faced from rival Jon Jones.

Despite the fact that these two men almost certainly won’t fight against one another inside the Octagon again, it seems as if they’re destined to bicker back and forth until the end of time.

After Jones defended himself by suggesting that he was proven innocent by USADA after the doping allegations that were sent his way, Cormier laughed it off and claimed that he wasn’t proven innocent whatsoever.

“You know what I don’t get about this guy? I don’t understand how he goes, ‘They proved me innocent.’ They never proved him innocent,” Cormier said on ESPN’s “DC and Helwani” show (via MMA Junkie). “They never once said he was innocent, so I don’t get it. I don’t get how he can say that publicly and people can repeat it publicly that he was proven innocent.

“No, they said the drugs were found in his system, but through excessive cooperation or something – I can’t remember the word – they took his sentence back. It was never innocent.

“It is what it is, I still can’t stand the guy and retired, not retired, see him publicly, I’ll probably still get into it. It’s just the way it is.”

Still, Daniel Cormier isn’t afraid to put his competitive persona to one side, as he showed recently when evaluating what kind of chance Jones has at finding success in his move up to heavyweight.

“If you have that skillset, the skillset that Jon Jones has, it doesn’t matter what weight class; he will be able to compete,” Cormier said on recent episode of ESPN’s DC and Helwani show. “That’s a fact. You can love him, you can hate him, but that’s a fact.”

There are an awful lot of questions surrounding the future of Jon Jones right now in regards to what he’s going to do next. Some believe that he’s destined to challenge for the Heavyweight Championship, whereas others are of the belief that it makes sense for him to engage in a superfight with Israel Adesanya at 205 pounds.