Daniel Cormier: it Will Take a Heavyweight to “Shut The Lights Out” on Jon Jones

Jon Jones is preparing to fight Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 right around the corner, but it seems pretty clear Daniel Cormier doesn’t see “Bones” losing to the challenger. In fact, “DC” doesn’t see any light-heavyweight handing Jones his first, legitimate loss.

Cormier believes it will take a heavyweight to beat Jones

Officially speaking, Jones incurred his first and only defeat to date in 2009, in a bout with Matt Hamill. But, since Jones was disqualified in the fight for throwing illegal strikes, most folks believe the 205 champ is undefeated.

Well, due to Cormier’s well documented rivalry with Jones, which saw him fail to defeat the star in two different fights, he continues to field questions about “Bones”. For example, during a recent interview with BT Sport, Cormier was asked what it’s going to take to defeat Jones. The former light-heavyweight and heavyweight champ said this (quote via MMA Junkie):

“I don’t know who beats Jon Jones,” Cormier admitted. “I really don’t, and obviously you guys know my feelings towards him, but he’s good, man. I think it’s going to take a heavyweight. It’ll be one of those guys – one of those big, big guys that will shut the lights out. I just don’t know if those guys can beat Jones over 25 minutes.”

So, it will be interesting to see if Reyes or his supporters take issue with Cormier’s take here. As, the undefeated fighter is set to fight Jones on February 8th. It should be noted, however, that currently Reyes is a huge underdog to win that fight. As it stands right now, Reyes is carrying odds in the -389 to -500 range.

All that aside, it’s in part due to what Cormier said above that many people want to see Jones move up to light-heavyweight. If he defeats Reyes, Jones will have scored wins over four of the top five ranked contenders in the division. Corey Anderson, who is #5, is the only fighter he hasn’t defeated in that group. So, in other words, Jones will have effectively cleaned out the division.

But, although you would think a move to heavyweight would generate a lot of buzz, recently Jones’ manager relayed a move probably won’t happen anytime soon (unless Brock Lesnar is waiting for Jones).

And what about Adesanya vs. Jones?

Since Israel Adesanya and Jones have been trading verbal jabs for a while now, and because there’s been talk about the champs fighting, Cormier was also asked to weigh-in on that match-up. Cormier had this to say about Adesanya’s chances:

“He’s a good fighter,” Cormier said of Adesanya. “He has so many weapons and, look at me, I feel I’m one of the greatest fighters of all time, and he (Jones) beat me twice. So, that says a lot about who he is as a competitor. But can Israel fight him? Yes, especially if Jon takes the wrong approach to fighting ‘Izzy.’ You fight Israel Adesanya, you better go get some takedowns because if you stand with him, he’s dangerous for anybody.”

Yup. Adesanya – Jones would be a fascinating fight. “The Last Stylebender” still has work to do at 185. Up next he’ll face Yoel Romero on March 7th, and Paulo Costa’s also waiting in the wings.