Jon Jones On Daniel Cormier: ‘We Have All Seen What He Looks Like,’ Says Fighter Not In Great Shape & Explains History Of Feud

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Jon Jones doesn’t mince words.

The UFC light heavyweight champion took shots at his UFC 178 opponent, Daniel Cormier, in today’s edition of The MMA Hour, calling the challenger out on his fitness (or lack thereof).

“As far being fit, I mean, we all see what he looks like,” Jones said. “Maybe I should have had a better choice of words,” Jones said. “I don’t think he’s in the greatest shape. Not only does he have to lose weight to get in shape, but he’s going to have to focus on his tactics to beat me. I just think that’s a tall order.”

While the pair have been feuding on Twitter ever since the fight was announced, clearly their rivalry can be traced back to a few years ago. Jones said that it began when the pair were introduced backstage at UFC 121 in 2010. The champion wasn’t familiar with Cormier or his Olympic wrestling background and apparently his UFC 178 challenger has held a grudge ever since.

“The whole backstory between me and Daniel Cormier, it’s really ridiculous,” Jones said. “Its basically, I ran into the guy behind the stage at the Brock Lesnar-Cain Velasquez fight. I think he approached me, or I approached his group, I’m not sure. He introduced himself, so I sarcastically said to him, ‘So you’re a wrestler,’ he was like ‘yeah, I’m a wrestler blah blah blah.’ I was like ‘dude, I bet I could take you down.’ It was me trying to be personal, it was me trying to be friendly, it was me trying to have an inside joke with someone I didn’t know.

“I had no clue he was such a prideful person, and at the moment I guess he just got really offended, which was very immature on his part,” Jones said. “He decided I had disrespected his great name he decided he didn’t like me and had some sort of personal vendetta against me. I think the whole thing’s silly.”