Daniel Cormier has said, on many occasions, that he wants to retire on or before his 40th birthday. The thinking, at least up until last night, was that Cormier would put his heavyweight title on the line against ex-champion Brock Lesnar, collect a big paycheck for that fight, and walk away from the sport. That scenario might have changed after Jon Jones won the light heavyweight title at UFC 232 on Saturday night with a TKO win over Alexander Gustafsson.
Cormier was obviously watching the UFC 232 broadcast. After commentators Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Dominick Cruz spoke about a potential third bout between Jones and Cormier, Cormier who vacated the light heavyweight title on Friday, laid out the provisions for that possible fight.
@DominickCruz you just said outside of all the testing stuff. Is there really stuff outside of the testing? Or we just do more testing and neither of us fail. That would be best case! We do that I’ll be back at 205!!!!!
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) December 30, 2018
@DominickCruz you just said outside of all the testing stuff. Is there really stuff outside of the testing? Or we just do more testing and neither of us fail. That would be best case! We do that I’ll be back at 205!!!!!
Cormier held the 205-pound crown when he met Jones at UFC 214 in July 2017. Jones won that fight by knockout. Jones was later stripped of the belt when he tested positive for the steroid Turinabol. The title reverted to Cormier after that drug test.
USADA, the organization that oversees the UFC’s anti-doping policy, gave Jones a 15-month suspension for that positive test. In the lead up to UFC 232, Jones was once again found to have Turinabol in his system. The Nevada State Athletic Commission balked at licensing Jones for UFC 232, which was scheduled for T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The promotion then moved the event to California, where the California State Athletic Commission licensed Jones, claiming its research indicated that Jones had not reingested the banned substance.
Cormier’s first meeting with Jones came in January 2015. Jones won that bout by unanimous decision.
UFC 232 took place at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
