On Saturday night (July 29) in Anaheim the two best light-heavyweights in the world, Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, will meet in the Octagon with Cormier’s 205lb title up for grabs. It’s a rematch. It’s the grudge match of the year. It’s the fight that will settle a score and tell us, once and for all, if Jon Jones, the former champion, is a busted flush at 30 or, in fact, still has plenty left to offer the sport of mixed martial arts.
Ahead of the UFC 214 headliner, we asked three Bellator contenders for their thoughts on Cormier and Jones and their impending monster showdown.
Cheick Kongo
Former UFC heavyweight and current Bellator heavyweight from France
“I’m a friend of Jon Jones and I will root for him. Cormier has some really good skills, but I can’t see Jones getting beaten by him. It might be different to the first fight but it depends how DC works and delivers his game plan. I still see the night being a good one for Jon Jones. The layoff could hurt him, but it could also be good for him. I’m sure he won’t change much. As soon as he feels the fear and the pressure and those instincts come back to him, he will remember what happens when he steps inside the cage and will take care of business.”
Baby Slice
Bellator welterweight prospect and the son of Kimbo Slice
“Jones all day. I want him to come back. I feel like the UFC kind of bashed him a little bit and did him kind of dirty. He’s got to come back and make a statement. If he doesn’t, if he comes back and loses, they’ll say, ‘See, everything you did was bad.’ If he wins, he’ll be like, ‘Right, I’m still the best, I’m still the champion.’
“The fight will be more competitive because Jones hasn’t been doing it for a while, but he still will have been training, no doubt. He won’t have lost a step. Jon Jones is going to take it, hands down. He’s like a basketball player doing MMA. He’s the Michael Jordan of MMA.”
Liam McGeary
Well-rounded former Bellator light-heavyweight champion from England
“Listen, Jon Jones is a bad boy. I know people who train with him and he’s for real. He’s really good. He’s in a different league to people in this sport talent-wise. Imagine him off the coke and training right and living right. Imagine what he’s capable of then. He was a 25-year-old with the world at his feet and he made mistakes. But think what he’s going to be like if he puts all his energy into this thing. He’s scary.”
Result…
Jones 3-0 Cormier
