Daniel Cormier doubts happy ending in bad blood rivalry with Jon Jones – and he's OK with that

EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – Daniel Cormier was brutally honest about his relationship with Jon Jones.

Cormier and Jones engaged in one of the biggest rivalries in UFC history, with Jones getting the better of “DC” twice in title fights – but the second win at UFC 214 getting overturned to a no contest due to a failed drug test.

Although they’re currently cordial, the pair never really buried the hatchet – at least not from Cormier’s side. However, that didn’t prevent Cormier from giving UFC heavyweight champion Jones his flowers.

“One of the greatest moments – he’s beaten a lot of guys. The amount of champions that Jon Jones has beaten over the course of his career is very impressive,” Cormier said during a Q&A session prior to the UFC Fight Night 246 ceremonial weigh-ins.

“The guy has been a champion for a long time, he’s done a great job and it will suck whenever he’s gone because the game is better when you have fighters like that in it. Unfortunately, there’s been a lot of time when he hasn’t been in it because of the things he has done.”

Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) defends his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) in the UFC 309 main event Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Cormier revealed that Jones went up to him to shake his hand during UFC 306 this past September at Sphere in Las Vegas, which he deemed as unnecessary.

“We aren’t great, and I don’t think that we ever have to,” Cormier said. “I think people need to stop, like, longing for the perfect happy ending. Guys don’t have to do what Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield did. It can be OK to just be OK with us being as we are. And I’m fine with it, so you guys should be too.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.