Cormier Says Jones Turned Down Seven-Figure Wrestling Match

Daniel Cormier has a simple explanation for why the Jones wrestling match never happened — and he is not shy about what it implies.

The former UFC two-division champion revealed this week that an unnamed organisation offered both men seven-figure paydays for a six-minute wrestling match, the negotiations went forward on his end, and Jones said no.

"The thing with Jon Jones: it wouldn't be RAF, because they can't afford to pay it. But there's an organization that offered us both seven figures for a six-minute match. He will not do it. I'm telling you, he will not do it. I'm not lying. I went through the negotiations, and I said, 'If he wrestles me, I'll do it. But it's going to be 10-0. I'm going to tech him.' But unfortunately, he knows it's going to be 10-0, so he won't do it,” Cormier

Cormier did not stop there. When wrestling was declined, he tried to pivot to grappling and ran into the same wall in a different shape.

"So then I said, 'How about we do a grappling match?' He said no, only submissions. I said, 'Why don't we do points, right, where we win? I don't want to be tied at the end.' 'No points, only submissions.' So he won't do it. He won't compete with me in anything he thinks there's a chance that he'd lose in. So, give up on the Jon Jones thing. He's not going to do it,” Cormier

The rivalry between them has never been cleanly resolved. Jones won both MMA fights, but the second was overturned to a no-contest after a failed drug test — a technicality that has kept the argument alive for a decade. Their reunion as opposing coaches on the Russian MMA reality show ALF earlier this year reignited the dynamic without producing a fight.