Former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones recently relinquished his heavyweight championship and announced his retirement. Two weeks later, after President Donald Trump announced that a UFC event on the White House grounds was being planned for next year, Jones re-entered the anti-doping testing pool to “keep everyone’s options open.”
When Jones posted on social media that he had re-entered the testing pool, rival and fellow two-division UFC titleholder Daniel Cormier thought Jones was trolling.
“I figured he was trolling. I thought he was trolling. I thought he was messing with the fans. Kind of giving them a hard time because he knew how much they wanted him to fight Tom Aspinall,” Cormier said on his 3 Rounds podcast. “But then he didn’t, and he says, ‘You know what? This doesn’t mean enough to me. I’m done.’ My biggest issue is, why are you playing with people’s emotions? It seems like something he’s been doing quite a bit lately.”
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Jones has essentially left everyone guessing whether a return is in the cards. At the time UFC CEO Dana White announced Jones informed the UFC that he’s retired, the fight promotion was working to book a title unification bout between Jones and then-interim titleholder Tom Aspinall. If Jones decided to fight again, Cormier believes it should be against the newly elevated undisputed titleholder.
“If he decides he wants to fight, sure. I don’t think he has to have an option but to fight that guy (Aspinall), though. He said it’s good to be the hunter now and not the hunted. I don’t think it changes anything. You’re still the champion. Right? You walked away with the belt. Don’t keep rolling around and playing with our emotions and the fans’ emotions because you know they want to see you fight. So, you either fight, or you hit the door.”
