Saturday’s title fight between current light heavyweight champion Daniel "DC" Cormier and the former champion, Jon "Bones" Jones, is a spectacle in its own right.
While Cormier has elevated to stardom, Jones has taken the beaten path of sorts after he was involved in a hit-and-run incident in Albuquerque on April 2015, which stripped him of his title. Then in July of 2016 he was banned for a year from competing by USADA after he tested positive for a banned substance.
The two couldn’t have been on more opposite sides of the spectrum, but at the same time, on equal footing entering Saturday’s rubber match. For Cormier, the fight represents a completion of himself as a fighter, since his only loss in the Octagon was to “Bones.” As for Jones, the fight represents the overcoming of his old self and the subsequent redemption of the new Jones.
And the promo for UFC 214 shows just that: A soirée of news clippings and court hearings of Jones’ past incidents, while also eluding to how Jones’ life is on the uphill climb once again, as he has the opportunity to fight for UFC gold.
But, early on, the promo didn’t sit well with the former champ, who just turned 30-years-old a little over a week ago.
“The first time I watched it, I was uncomfortable with it, because it showed me talking in 2011 and saying how I would never want to do something that would harm the image of the sport,” Jones said. “That was genuine, man. I never intended on having an image of being the bad guy. I really didn’t. Somewhere along the way I got lost, man. I got caught up in my own s**t. I stared having fun and partying, and (I was) still winning. I just took it all for granted.”
With Jones’ second chance, though, he feels he can ultimately place himself in position to be the good guy once and for all.
“I think my story is going to really inspire somebody else who f***ed up,” Jones added. “It’s going to really inspire somebody else to realize that it’s not over…I’m glad that I’m used as a laughingstock or whatever it might be to ultimately inspire, (even) if it’s just one person. If there’s just one person that continues to fight because of my life, I’m glad to be in this position.”
As for Cormier, 38, he believes that Jones has made strides to bettering himself as a man — despite the constant bickering the two contend in on all platforms — but doesn’t feel the redemption story necessarily falls in line with winning the belt, especially since “DC” is convinced the second go-around between the two will favor him.
“The redemption is the fact that he gets to go back and compete,” Cormier said on the conference call. “The redemption isn’t the championship anymore…But the story of redemption is not getting his hand raised in the Octagon this weekend. Maybe later, but not right now.”
Throughout fight week, the two exchanged some trash talk, with Jones saying Cormier looks like a “crack head” due to his weight cut, and Cormier making jokes about bodily functions. But for both, they have also realized that Saturday night marks a new path, in both cases, win or lose.
During a pre-fight press conference on Wednesday, Cormier stated this rematch is a must win for him–not for his legacy, but for himself.
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“I think in time the result of one fight will not overcome everything I’ve done in this sport,” Cormier said. “But the reality is for me, I do need to win this fight. Because if you look at all the things I have done in my career, I’ve done it all, outside of beating Jon Jones. It’s the last thing for me to do, and yeah, it’s important.”
For Jones, he believes his past mishaps were played in part by becoming so big at such a young age. But as he had time to grow and think more critically, he feels a change in himself that has him at his best.
“I think my talent and my brand, it grew faster than my character and me as a person,” Jones said on Wednesday. “So having these last two years pretty much off, I really got to take a step back and look at my career and look at this organization as a fan. And what I concluded was (that) I didn’t take anything seriously…I just started taking everything for granted and I started making mistakes. So it’s been great to take a step back and to reevaluate things and prioritize and to realize how much this sport means to me.”
Matthew Narvaiz is a senior sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz.
