Daniel Cormier thinks the UFC may need Jon Jones isn’t hating on Jon Jones. The former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion stopped doing that a long time ago.
Cormier was being 100 percent authentic when he said the UFC may need Jones to lose to Tom Aspinall when the two men lock horns sometime this year for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
In a video on Cormier’s channel, the UFC color analyst and media personality discussed Jones’ rumored $30 million payday for the fight with Aspinall. Cormier isn’t sure Jones will get that much, but he also doesn’t believe it’s a ridiculous asking price.
Cormier knows Jones could choose to walk away from fighting after the fight, and he believes that if Jones makes that choice, it could leave the promotion with a deficit.
“Jones leaves, and you can do whatever you want,” Cormier said. “We could go Aspinall versus [Alex] Pereira, Aspinall versus this guy, or that guy. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because, even though Francis Ngannou isn’t the name that Jon Jones is, people were saying when Jones became champ, “Well, he didn’t beat Francis,” right? There was a break in the heavyweight championship timeline. If you want to say it like that, we can make massive fights, but it will never overcome the idea that Jon Jones left as the champ. And then that would happen two times back to back. So it’d be a massive mistake. They’ve got to get him in there with Aspinall. And you’ve got to hope that Aspinall wins if you want the heavyweight title to continue being what the heavyweight title has been. Because if he doesn’t, and Jones goes, “I’m walking away as the greatest of all time, as the reigning heavyweight champion,” it leaves a gap that’s hard to fill.”
You can see the entire video here:
Cormier’s point is strong, but time heals old wounds, and it also washes away old stories. While the immediate grades for the next heavyweight champion might not be as high as they would have been if they won the title from Jones, over time, the mystique would come when the right guy comes along to claim the title.
Conor McGregor took over the featherweight division. He hunted the title and won it before moving on to become the biggest star the sport has ever seen.
McGregor never lost the featherweight title. He outgrew the division. After McGregor destroyed Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to win the title and then moved up to lightweight, Aldo beat Frankie Edgar for the interim championship seven months later.
Aldo became the undisputed champion once McGregor moved up to lightweight. While Aldo’s second run wasn’t as respected as his first, the man he lost the 145-pound title to, Max Holloway, became a certified legend and arguably the best featherweight in history.
Not only did Holloway not beat McGregor, he’d actually lost to him four years before winning the championship from Aldo.
The lineal heavyweight title is a thing, but it’s not the biggest thing. The fighter holding the belt and the way fans perceive them will always trump the direct lines of a specific title.
