Cormier, Jones exchange insults ahead of intense face off at UFC 214 presser
After spending the better part of a half-hour hurling insults at each other, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones finally engaged in a heated face off ahead of their rematch at UFC 214 on Saturday night.
These moments between Cormier and Jones are always intense, especially considering one face off back in 2014 resulted in a brawl that poured out into the lobby at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
This time around, UFC president Dana White was front and center to stay between the fighters to ensure nothing crazy happened.
Jones actually removed his shirt for the stare down, which came after he showed off his six-pack abs after Cormier once again raised questions about the former champion using performance enhancing drugs throughout his UFC career.
“The other day, Jon about cried on the press conference because I had accused him of using steroids but do I feel like he tried to cheat? Yeah, I do,” Cormier said on Wednesday. “Why cannot I not say what I feel? I can say whatever I want. If I believe it in my heart, then I will say it.
“Yes, I do believe he’s done it for a long time.”
Jones fired back by pointing to the fact that he was at his biggest last year when he began power lifting ahead of his fight with Ovince Saint-Preux and that was after the UFC entered into a stringent drug testing policy with USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency).
He then looked over at Cormier, who was beginning to show the ill effects of his weight cut down to 205 pounds as Jones poked fun at him on stage.
“Look at this guy’s face. Who looks like a junkie here today? You look like a crackhead with a suit on,” Jones said.
Without blinking, Cormier responded by referencing Jones’ previous positive drug test for cocaine that was revealed after their first fight ended.
“I can look like a crackhead with a suit on, but I’ve never been a crackhead like you though,” Cormier said. “You can say I look like one, but I’ve never been one.”
The back and forth war of words continued on stage throughout the press conference until the two fighters were finally set to square off for the first time since May when they met in Dallas to begin promoting the card.
UFC president Dana White was in position to prevent Cormier and Jones from getting too close to each other, but there was no pushing or shoving this time around.
Instead, Jones and Cormier just stared back at each other in a very intense face off before finally being separated by White.
