D. Cormier (photo) has been UFC champion since May. Photo: Disclosure
Current UFC light heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier has a new contract with the biggest MMA organization on the planet. The athlete from American kickboxing Academy (AKA) renewed the event for another eight fights and took advantage of the news to plan what should be his next belt defense, against the former champion of the category and the only tormentor of his career Jon Jones.
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“The UFC showed that it values everything I have done so far in my career and was very fair to me. I just had to be myself and be honest”, said Cormier, in an interview with the North American website “MMA Junkie”. “I'm 36 years old and I don't even know if I can do eight more fights, but this is a new eight-fight contract,” added Cormier, who suggested three possible dates for the duel against Jones: the event in April 2016 at Madison Square Garden in New York, the “Memorial Day” event in May in Las Vegas or UFC 200, also in the fight capital of the world. “In terms of my athletic career, the chance to do a main event at Madson Square Garden is incredible. It’s quite an opportunity, so we’ll look at it again after the end of the year and see how it goes,” he analyzed.
Despite being open to a duel on the legendary New York stage, Cormier considered that giving Jones a title fight in his home state right away could send the “wrong message” to fans. “I don’t think he should be awarded after coming back from what he went through. (…) Maybe things could be different, because there is no other place in the country where you, if you are considered a bad guy, they will boo you as hard as in New York. But even then the chances of that happening are slim since he’s from New York,” he noted.
At 36, Daniel Cormier has a professional record of 17 wins and one loss, precisely for Jon Jones in January this year, in MMA. The former heavyweight GP champion from the now-defunct Strikeforce won the light heavyweight belt, taking Jones' place at UFC 187 and beating Anthony Johnson by completion. Recently, on October 3rd, Cormier made his first successful title defense by beating the Swede Alexander Gustafson in a split decision from the judges in the main fight of UFC 192.
Remember the fight between Jones and Cormier in photos below:
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