The two met in January 2015 in Jones’ final fight before his legal issues. The resilient Saint Preux has fought with a broken arm for more than three rounds.
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Cormier pulled out of his much-anticipated UFC 197 rematch with Jones because of a leg injury, but he still showed up at MGM Grand Garden Arena to provide color analysis on the pay-per-view broadcast. What Jones wants is the belt that Cormier now has, which was his belt until he was stripped of it by the company.
“I do believe that Daniel Cormier would’ve beaten Jon Jones tonight”, Sonnen agreed.
“I was trying to be as confident as possible, but I really needed that fight”, Jones said after the fight.
After the fight, Cormier told Rogan that “watching [Jones] compete tonight in the way that he competed, you can’t help but feel there was a missed opportunity….” “I’ll be there with my championship belt, with my red wraps on my glove as I come out second and you wait for me to walk to the Octagon”. Always in control, he subjected Saint Preux to heavy punishment in the latter half of round four and won every round of each of the judges’ scorecards.
After that first round when the strikes were fairly even (15-11 Jones), Jones held a significant advantage with a 116-47 strike advantage, including 28-4 in the fourth round.
“I think it shows strength that he’s pulling himself back in and he’s just persevering on with his journey, so I give him props”, Mounya Timlin said.
As the UFC belt was presented to Jones after Saturday’s fight, he declined to put it on, saying, “It’s not the right belt”.
There was no further update on Saint Preux’s condition immediately after the fight but it looks like he’ll be sidelined for a little while after he gets patched up in Las Vegas.
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Just listened back to interview and @danawhite said if Jones/DC are healthy, it’s “possible” for UFC 200, different from what I tweeted. I’ve been training for one fighter, and they threw me this taller, power-punching switching stances (opponent).
