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UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier and heavyweight champion Jon Jones have a heated past, but believes his rival was “bombarded” with a pair of misdemeanor charges after an incident with a drug test sample collector.
Years after Cormier and Jones had their championship saga in the UFC and all of the dramatic events that surrounded their bouts, the tension between the two has lessened. There was a time when the two men could not be in the same room together, but over the years, cooler heads have prevailed, although they would not call each other friends.
Now, as Jones has been charged with assault and interference with communications stemming from an alleged incident on March 30, Cormier has come to his rival’s defense.
“I know that we all rush to judge Jones because of his past issues, but the reality is, if a man is at his house and he’s having some drinks in the confines of his own home, so what?” Cormier said in a video on his YouTube channel. “It’s his right to do that. And if the drug testers come, and he might be a little bit tipsy or messed up, maybe the interactions aren’t as fun or as easy as they may have been in different other occasions.
“So, kind of always thought it was BS. I don’t think much is going to come of it, but because he is who he is, it’s always a story, regardless of what happens to this guy. And honestly, that’s kind of like living in the spotlight, but I think because of everything that he’s done in the past, the light shines a little brighter on him, even in situations where it shouldn’t. So, I don’t really think this is that big of a deal. Some of the things that happened in the past were much more serious.”
Jones denied the allegations and shared surveillance video that appeared to show Jones high-fiving the sample collector, who said she felt “terrified” and “afraid” of Jones during the visit to his Albuquerque home.
“If you are a Jones hater, and you are hoping something comes of this, I don’t think it will,” Cormier said. “I think this man was bombarded a little bit, and I think that a misdemeanor is only the court’s way of taking some action because something has to be done when you do something wrong.”
On Wednesday, Jones entered a plea of not guilty to the charges in a virtual hearing in a New Mexico court. Cormier, of course, holds no official legal capacity in Jones’ latest case, but hearing him publicly support his once-bitter enemy in such a manner would have been unthinkable a short time ago.
“I’m not the judge, I’m not the jury, so it doesn’t really matter,” Cormier said. “I’m just a guy that doesn’t like a guy, that is actually standing up for that guy because I know it’s bullsh*t.”
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