Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones keep their cool ahead of UFC 214

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 was any less tense during a Wednesday news conference at L.A. Live to promote their championship rematch in the main event of UFC 214 on Saturday night in Anaheim.
Jones and Cormier exchanged several cutting barbs, but there were no real fireworks
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 of the day.
“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.”
He’ll 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.
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