Daniel Cormier isn’t buying Jon Jones’ story.
Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) recently said he’s been dealing with severe arthritis, which, according to the former two-division UFC champ, was a piece of information that was not intended to be spread publicly. During what Jones said he thought was a private conversation, he revealed the ailment to someone who was recording the entire interaction at the DBX 5 event in Houston.
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Cormier believes his longtime rival knew the conversation was being captured on video.
“The Meta glasses is a big thing right now,” Cormier said in a video on his YouTube channel. “Rosendo Sanchez, one of my coaches, he wears Meta glasses. First off, wearing the Meta glasses, they aren’t unrecognizable. They don’t look like the general shades, like glasses. You can tell that there’s something there a little different. Jon said the kid filmed him without his knowledge.”
During an interview with The Schmo, Jones called the person who recorded him “an absolute asshole” for posting the footage online. Cormier, however, believes Jones knew he was being recorded and may have set the whole thing up purposefully.
“The moment they start recording, they press this button, there’s a white light on the side of these glasses that tells you they’re recording,” Cormier said. “How could he have missed that? … Now, I saw the video. It looked like he kind of glanced at the kid, spoke to the kid, maybe he missed it, giving him the benefit of the doubt, but to be honest, it’s hard not to know that you’re on video. So, I believe that information like that, that if it’s that close to the vest, you don’t share it with some random either.
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“I don’t know that everything he does isn’t intended to be taken in the way that its taken. It feels like everything he does has a purpose. So, I don’t believe it, and I don’t think you should, because I don’t think that he was unaware of the video. I think that Jon Jones knew what he was doing. I think that he wanted people to know that he’s injured, and I think that’s exactly the way that he wanted it to happen, by giving it to an influencer. Then that influencer put it on the internet, and then he could feign ignorance and go, ‘Oh my god, I got caught.’ Not true.”
Why would Cormier think Jones is fabricating a story? Well, perhaps it’s because Cormier has experienced Jones saying one thing on camera and doing another behind the scenes, as during their infamous pre-fight interview years ago, which became a cornerstone of their heated rivalry.
Whether or not Jones intended to have the message out there, he responded to questions about it, and assured that his arthritic condition would not affect his availability to compete on the upcoming White House card this summer – an event in which he has begged UFC CEO Dana White to be a part of.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Daniel Cormier doubts Jon Jones’ arthritis story, says it was planned
