NEW YORK – Daniel Cormier thinks Jon Jones retiring after his UFC 309 title fight with Stipe Miocic would be an injustice.
The possibility of Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) walking away from competition has been heightened as his heavyweight title defense against Miocic on Saturday at Madison Square Garden (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+) gets closer. He has outright refused to unify belts with interim champion Tom Aspinall, and said a matchup with light heavyweight kingpin Alex Pereira would be the only thing that would extend his career beyond this weekend.
UFC CEO Dana White said a Jones vs. Pereira matchup is not happening, and issued an ultimatum for “Bones” to either retire or fight Aspinall, should he emerge victorious against Miocic.
Cormier thinks Jones will eventually fold, and struggles to see him hanging up the gloves, especially with a dominant performance.
“I think he’s going to fight,” Cormier told MMA Junkie on Friday. “I don’t know how or when, but I think he’s going to fight. Listen, you don’t want to get rid of this thing before you have too. Georges St-Pierre was young enough to keep going. Khabib (Nurmagomedov) was young enough to keep going, and those guys left. Not everybody can do that. I think it would be unfair to the sport if Jon Jones left.”
Cormier said he badly wants to see the heavyweight division, where he once ruled as champion, get a proper resolution. That means Jones vs. Aspinall for the unified belt.
“I want to Jon Jones versus Tom Aspinall,” Cormier said. “That’s the fight that I want to see after (UFC 309).”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.
