Daniel Cormier scolds Jon Jones for criticizing the performance of “wounded” Francis Ngannou at UFC 270

Daniel Cormier has sounded off on Jon Jones for his criticism of Francis Ngannou after UFC 270.

After Ngannou defeated Ciryl Gane by decision to defend his heavyweight title for the first time, Jones said he wasn’t impressed with his performance. However, it should be noted that Ngannou fought with a torn MCL among other knee injuries, which Cormier says impacted him and why “Bones” shouldn’t criticize the heavyweight champion’s performance.

“For me, it’s about Jon Jones needs to fight,” Cormier said on his ESPN show “DC & RC” (via MMAJunkie). “At some point, you got to fight. You got to fight. It’s one thing to be the champion, defending, fighting – even when him and I were going through our thing, he would get suspended, but then he would come back and he would fight. Even if that meant fighting Ovince Saint Preux whenever I was hurt, but ultimately he was fighting. Right now, he’s just talking. It’s like, when are you going to fight? Because for as bad as it was, Francis had a torn meniscus. Francis was hurt. Francis had a bad training camp. All these things. Francis still fought.

“So you can say, ‘Well, they’re not that good,’ but ultimately, they’re still in there doing their thing,” Cormier continued about Jones-Ngannou. “Why aren’t you in there doing your thing? You are one of the most talented mixed martial artists of all time. Why aren’t you in there doing your thing against these guys, opposed to judging them, because for all of the bad blood and all the bad stuff between Francis and the UFC right now, Francis still went out there. He went out there, he fought hurt, and he got a victory.”

The hope for many MMA fans is Jon Jones does end up making the move to heavyweight to face Francis Ngannou. It would be a massive fight for the division but Ngannou needs to re-sign with the UFC first.

For Daniel Cormier, he makes it clear, Ngannou fought at UFC 270 wounded and that is not his true self. But, Cormier says maybe that performance finally makes Jones decide to move to heavyweight which is what everyone wants him to do.

“So if you’re going to judge the apex predator that Francis is on last weekend, know that you’re judging a wounded apex predator,” Cormier said. “So you may think that he’s not as good now because of what you saw, but maybe you’re just putting yourself up for a bigger disappointment when you do finally make that jump.”

Do you agree with Daniel Cormier?