Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones keep their cool ahead of UFC 214
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Ahead of UFC 214, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and title challenger Jon Jones proved their rivalry is still alive as they taunted each other during a news conference ahead of their July 29 rematch set for the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal
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Demian Maia talks about facing UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley on a short training camp. Tonya Evinger and Cris "Cyborg" Justino discuss their preparations ahead of vying for the vacant UFC women's featherweight belt at UFC 214 on July 29.
July 26, 2017 - 7:11 pm
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UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at the UFC 214 news conference at The Novo in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier responds to questions at the UFC 214 news conference at The Novo in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier responds to questions at the UFC 214 news conference at The Novo in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, left, engages in a face-off with Jon Jones, right, as UFC president Dana White, center, keeps them separated at the UFC 214 news conference at The Novo in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, left, engages in a face-off with Jon Jones, right, as UFC president Dana White, center, keeps them separated at the UFC 214 news conference at The Novo in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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Jon Jones, right, leaves the stage at the UFC 214 news conference after a staredown with UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at The Novo by Microsoft in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC women's featherweight title contender Cris "Cyborg" Justino at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley addresses the media at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC welterweight title contender Demian Maia at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC president Dana White takes questions from the media at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC women's featherweight title contender Tonya Evinger answers reporter's questions at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
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UFC women's featherweight title contender Cris "Cyborg" Justino takes questions from the media at the UFC 214 news conference in Los Angeles, Calif., on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Heidi Fang Las Vegas Review-Journal @HeidiFang
LOS ANGELES — There were no punches thrown or water bottles hurled as in previous occasions when bitter UFC rivals Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier have been in each other’s presence.
That didn’t mean the atmosphere Wednesday was any less tense.
Jones and Cormier exchanged several cutting barbs, but there were no real fireworks at L.A. Live where the two promoted their championship rematch for UFC 214 on Saturday night in Anaheim.
That may have been a result of a noticeably beefed up security presence on stage. It could also mean they are just ready to finally fight again.
Saturday marks the fifth time the two best light heavyweights in the world have been scheduled to fight, though they have only stepped in the cage once through a series of cancellations for injuries, a Jones’ arrest and failed drug test. UFC officials even booked top contender Jimi Manuwa for a fight on Saturday’s card to serve as an emergency replacement just in case one of the headliners is unable to compete.
Cormier is confident Manuwa’s services won’t be needed.
“He’s saying all the right things,” Cormier said of Jones. “He seems to have done the right things. There’s no reason for me not to think my business partner won’t show up on Saturday night. How many times can we do this without actually fighting? One is not enough. Saturday night we get to fight.”
The same could have been said days before their matchup at UFC 200 in July 2016 until Jones was pulled 72 hours before the fight when it was revealed he had failed an out-of-competition drug test. He was eventually suspended one year by USADA for a violation of the UFC’s anti-doping policy, though he successfully argued to an arbitrator the positive test was the result of an off-brand sexual-performance pill.
Of all the insults Cormier has hurled at Jones over the course of their contentious rivalry, the steroid accusations appear to bother Jones the most.
“Yes, I do believe he’s done (performance-enhancing drugs),” Cormier reiterated on Wednesday. “For a long time.”
Jones immediately rose from his chair and lifted his shirt to display his abs, questioning Cormier on how such a physique would be possible now that a comprehensive drug testing program is in place if his success was so fueled by steroids.
He then told Cormier he looked like “a crackhead with a suit on.”
Tensions rising
Cormier, who has been champion since winning the belt Jones was stripped of following a hit-and-run accident in 2015, reminded Jones he was the one who failed a cocaine test shortly before Jones won the first meeting between the two fighters.
The former champion has made several jokes over the past several months about the kind of success he has had in the past despite all of his partying. Cormier similarly tried to mock himself for an incident in April where he appeared to miss weight only to lean on a towel on his second attempt.
Jones has called the act “one of the dirtiest things he has ever seen in sports” and once again Wednesday said he was not amused by Cormier’s alleged skirting of the rules.
That triggered Cormier’s angriest response.
“You shouldn’t be sitting up here for all the (expletive) that you’ve done,” he said. “You sit up here on your high horse. How the (expletive) can you judge? You have no room to judge anyone. Just sit there with your mouth shut before I walk over and smack the (expletive) out of you.”
Cormier will wait for Saturday to attack, unlike in 2014 when they brawled in the lobby of the MGM Grand after a news conference, or in May when he threw a water bottle at Jones backstage at an event in Dallas.
Cormier said one of the biggest lessons he learned from fighting Jones once before was not to allow the emotions to become a factor, though he made no promises about their future interactions.
“Last time I thought I brought a lot of it into the octagon and it did me no good,” he said. “You have to learn from your mistakes, and that’s what I’m doing. I’ve always said if you have issues with someone beyond the sport, you can do that anywhere. It doesn’t have to be in the confines of the octagon. If there are issues with me and Jon that need to be addressed after Saturday, then they’ll get addressed.”
The bout will headline a 7 p.m. pay-per-view event featuring three title bouts.
More MMA: Follow all of our MMA and UFC coverage online at CoveringTheCage.com and @CoveringTheCage on Twitter.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.
UFC 214
Main card bouts on Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, California:
— Daniel Cormier (19-1) vs. Jon Jones (22-1), for Cormier’s light heavyweight title
— Tyron Woodley (16-3-1) vs. Demian Maia (25-6), for Woodley’s welterweight title
— Cris “Cyborg” Justino (16-1, 1 No Contest) vs. Tonya Evinger (19-5), for vacant women’s featherweight title
— Robbie Lawler (27-11, 1 No Contest) vs. Donald Cerrone (32-8, 1 No Contest), welterweights
— Jimi Manuwa (17-2) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (14-1), light heavyweights