Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier are bitter rivals. There's been an ongoing war between the two, and their rivalry is widely considered to be one of the best in all of MMA.
At Friday's UFC 210 official weigh-ins, Cormier came in 206.2 pounds — 1.2 pounds over the 205-pound limit — for his title defense, a rematch with Anthony Johnson. The fight was teetering on the edge of being canceled; other options included a title fight just for Johnson or a non-title affair.
But magically, Cormier came out 144 seconds later, tipped the scales and held a towel. Cormier said the towel was for some privacy. “I didn't want you guys to see my junk,” he explained after the weigh-in. He had used a towel for his earlier weigh-in as well.
In comes Jon Jones, who was holding a media event later in the day on Friday in Buffalo, the event's host city.
When asked by a reporter what he thought of the situation, Jones didn't hold back, though this was one of those situations where he shouldn't have made a comment. It just left himself open to criticism.
“The crazy thing is that it was allowed to happen,” Jones said. “I would imagine there has to be some type of commission or something to go back and see this blatant foul play and address it. Nobody addressed it. They just basically got away with one of the dirtiest things I’ve seen in sports.”
Jones is currently serving a one-year suspension issued by USADA and the Nevada Athletic Commission, after failing a drug test for estrogen blockers Clomiphene and Letrozol just three days before his scheduled rematch against Cormier at UFC 200 back in July 2016.
So really, given his history, Jones shouldn't be talking about anyone doing anything dirty in MMA.
The 29-year-old Jones is, without a doubt, one of the greatest fighters in the history of mixed martial arts. He's 22-1 and probably should be undefeated, considering his only loss was a questionable disqualification to Matt Hamill in 2009. But now, Jones can't seem to stay out of his own way.
He failed a drug test three days before the biggest fight of his life, on what was the biggest card in UFC history. It will go down as one of the biggest black eyes the sport has ever seen.
Whether or not Cormier did something fishy is up for debate. An argument can be made for either side.
Jones wanted to stick it to Cormier, who blasted Jones for his drug test failure. Listening to him talk on the subject, you could see it in his eyes. He enjoyed every second of slamming Cormier.
"Bones" should have just kept quiet. A known cheater shouldn't be talking about a matter in which Cormier wasn't found guilty of anything. There's only suspicion.
Silence is the deadliest weapon of them all. Hopefully Jones remembers that for next time should a matter like this ever comes up again.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can find his podcast, "The Fight Club Chicago," and subscribe on iTunes. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
