- This beef has almost everything.
A clear origin story, real sanctioned fighting,
real unsanctioned fighting, endless Twitter roasts,
a moderate amount of drugs.
The one thing missing is an ending,
which at this point, might never come.
(electronic music)
The stage was set at UFC 121 in October of 2010.
Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier were backstage
waiting for the Cain Velasquez/Brock Lesnar main event.
Our fighters had never met and all Jones seemed to know
about Cormier was that he wrestled.
So when Jones approached DC, he lead with that.
He'd later say this meeting was in hopes of making a friend.
He wanted to just goof around backstage,
but when he said this,
any possible good intentions were lost.
In less time than it took Velasquez
to knock out Lesnar later that night,
the MMA world got a big slab of fresh beef.
Now I won't claim to have been in
either of these guys' heads,
let alone present for the interaction,
but regardless of intent, it's clear how this
conversation could take things from zero to 60.
Jon Jones did have his facts straight.
Daniel Cormier had always been a great wrestler.
He was an All-American at Oklahoma State,
he took fourth place at the 2004 Olympics,
he was named Team Captain of the 2008 Olympic Team.
The dude was very good.
He didn't even start training in MMA
until after those second Olympics,
and debuted with Strikeforce at the age of 30.
So Cormier was still on his long, non-traditional path
to the UFC with Jones approached him for the first time.
A young fighter on the rise, cocky enough to tell Cormier
he didn't know who he was and could take him down.
It could do extra damage to the psyche of someone
still trying to make their name in the sport.
And compared to DC, Jones didn't have much left to prove.
He was, in industry terms, hot shit.
Jones made his MMA debut before turning 21.
Four months later, he was fighting in the UFC.
In less than two years after that,
Dana White was talking about how Jones deserved
a step-up in competition.
On a fast track to the belt, it wasn't wild for Jones
to have thought other fighters
would want to be friends with him.
He just went about it wrong,
and while time heals wounds, it just ages beef.
At the 2011 World MMA Awards, Jones,
now the UFC's Light Heavyweight champ,
let a potential sponsor know he wouldn't sign on
if the brand also pursued Cormier.
DC got word of this, and stopped Jones as he was leaving
to find out what was up.
According to the sponsor, Jones was no longer
looking for friendship and Cormier made it clear
that he was sick of feeling disrespected.
Our guys proved this wouldn't be a one-time thing.
Jumping ahead a little bit, I have to shout out
one of the sponsors of this video, Twitter.
Twitter, the cesspool that everyone uses.
Jones took to social media and sub-tweeted DC
about his weight ahead of Cormier's UFC debut.
Conveniently enough, Cormier had a microphone
when he responded.
- [Cormier] Jon, he can walk off the street
whatever he weighs now and we can get in the Octagon.
Let's fight at any weight, Jon, you and I.
- Jones doubled down and talked about how DC
wasn't fighting for the right reasons,
before making it clear that he wasn't
sweating anything Cormier related.
It's important to note that at this point,
these two were in different weight classes.
So technically, they really weren't relevant to one another.
That got fixed.
In September 2013, Jones defeated Alexander Gustafsson
in a tough fight to defend the belt.
The following July, a rematch was set,
scheduled for roughly a year after the first one.
But just a couple weeks following the announcement,
Gustafsson tore a meniscus while training.
Almost immediately, Cormier got tagged to fill in,
and was quickly forecasting his own championship.
DC's chance at the belt was presented
just five months after he dropped down to light heavyweight.
To celebrate the play date, Jones DM'ed Cormier
and expressed his excitement for the fight.
A week later, they traded the virtual world
for the meat world and they, come on guys,
you didn't let me finish my line.
Okay, yeah, so in their first appearance together
to promote the fight, they fought.
Spilling off the stage,
they proved that they weren't joking around.
But with that out of their system,
they went back to training,
no, nevermind, they both went straight to Twitter.
In the first round, Jones caught Cormier early,
but DC did what Jones could not and actually tagged
@JonnyBones in his comeback.
Getting a combo in before Jones responded
and managed to give us the perfect segue.
One of those interviews put them together again
on the very same day, no less.
And while ESPN made sure to keep them in separate rooms,
they also knew better than to kill their microphones
after their SportsCenter interview.
Those hot mics resulted in more threats between the pair,
highlighted by Cormier calling Jones out
for being fake, wishing he could spit in his face
before Jones threatened to straight up kill DC.
- I actually admire that you can actually be this fake
and when the TV comes on, how you can just change.
It's like you're a chameleon!
I wish they would let me next door
so I can spit in your bleeping face.
- You know I would absolutely kill you
if you ever did something like that, right?
- You could never kill me.
- Oh, I bet you I could.
- Then you should try, Jon.
- [Will] Next up for Jones was an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel
where, of all things, he decided to mock Cormier's
fourth place finish in the Olympics.
And unintentionally, gave DC a perfect opportunity
to gain some ground in the Twitter feud.
They once again shared a stage and as their hatred flowed,
it took the fighters down a beef-filled,
yet more sensual path.
- I'm gonna make him my wife.
(laughing) (cheering)
- Not that kind of presser, let's move on--
- You're gonna be Mrs. Jones for the night.
- That is not true.
- [Will] Barely a week after the brawl in Vegas,
it was announced we'd have a longer wait for the real thing.
- Jones tore his meniscus while training
and required surgery.
The fight shifted to January 3rd,
and it became easier for both guys
to contain their composure after the fines came down
for their earlier encounter.
And once the night came, it all poured out.
They went the distance, Jones won by unanimous decision,
and Cormier received the first blemish on his record.
And not that he needed the win to talk trash,
but Jones laid it on after the fight.
He reiterated how he knew Cormier would break.
How DC wasn't a challenge for him.
How he still had no respect for him,
and looked forward to beating him again.
As for Cormier, he simply vowed to get back
for another title shot.
But because nothing's easy with these two,
news broke that Jones had tested positive
for cocaine leading up to the card.
Since that isn't a banned substance
outside of competition, though,
the fight had been allowed to go as planned.
'Cause you know, it's just a little cocaine.
It's not something really bad like steroids or marijuana.
Jones entered rehab and showed he could tackle
anything in record time.
In the following days, fighters and journalists
piled on the decision to let the fight carry on.
Cormier though, was respectful of Jones
and looked at the bigger picture.
At least, for now.
He'd get another chance to criticize the champ
after Jones' car was found at the scene of a crash
where he had collided with a vehicle
driven by a pregnant woman, then fled the scene.
Police found weed, cash
and a noteworthy amount of condoms in the car,
along with papers linking the vehicle to Jon Jones.
- I wonder if this is that fighter's car?
- [Cop] Who?
- Jon Jones?
- [Will] He was immediately stripped of the belt,
given an indefinite suspension,
and as an extra twist of the knife,
Cormier took his place in an upcoming fight
against Anthony "Rumble" Johnson,
which was now for the vacated Light Heavyweight title.
DC won the belt with a third round rear-naked choke,
and successfully defended it against Gustafsson
in October 2015.
By then, Jones had returned from suspension
and a rematch was in the works.
He jumped on Twitter to celebrate his reinstatement
and had eyes for only one man.
We got our first back-and-forth in awhile
as they discussed meeting up, which included
a more-than-likely Photoshop by Cormier
and an exchange that did nothing but remind us
of their disdain.
They finally got a time and place lined up.
April 23rd, 2016 at UFC 197.
And we got a lightning round of beef.
Jones crotch-chopped Cormier at a press conference,
then went on the MMA Hour to call Cormier a coward.
Cormier went on Twitter to show that Jones was the coward,
calling him a junkie, told him not to associate
with various horses, and countless other things.
Jones actually had a great response.
Then gave Cormier advice for how to avoid toxic shock syndrome.
And then, because I guess we were all good
and deserved an extra serving, Cormier injured his foot.
That pushed the fight back to July,
and while it gave the chance for more flames,
Jones actually offered his support to Cormier.
Although, he still hadn't learned
how to actually tweet at someone.
They've jawed a long time, and they fought once officially,
more times unofficially, maybe they finally turned a corner.
And maybe we can all go back to normal.
Sike!
Fights off.
Three days before UFC 200, Jones was pulled from the fight
due to doping violations.
Various banned substances had been found in his A sample.
And Dana White had the fun task of telling Cormier.
By now, with everything both fighter had gone through,
Cormier took the news hard.
The UFC filmed the interaction backstage as DC offered
to sign a waiver, do whatever he could
to make this fight happen.
- Following the news, Jones stated
he never took an illegal substance and apologized
to Cormier for the fight being called off.
Cormier described the fight as "snake-bitten",
and put their feelings aside as he called Jones
one of the most talented people he'd ever seen.
Once the B-sample came back also positive,
Jones received a one-year suspension.
Even though USADA at this point had found
that the failed results were due to contaminated pills
used to treat erectile dysfunction.
So tainted Cialis, suspension.
Marijuana, suspension.
Just stick to cocaine, kids.
Jumping ahead six months and Cormier took his turn
to pour goof fuel on this beef.
At weigh-ins ahead of his rematch with "Rumble" Johnson,
he missed weight by just over a pound.
When given a second chance three minutes later,
he made weight.
He also grabbed hold of the privacy towel.
But I'm sure after the respect shown
between Jones and Cormier, something so innocuous
didn't even, okay, Jones called it
"one of the dirtiest things he'd ever seen in sports."
Beef's back on.
DC took to Twitter to deny the towel helped him make weight,
and Jones jumped in to share his dreams.
Cormier responded with an actually good joke
that even Jones had to respect,
before tacking on one of his own.
After Cormier once again handled Johnson,
the UFC set up a new rematch, just over a year
after the previous failed attempt.
And as promotion for the event ramped up,
the boys returned to form.
The next time they saw each other,
they nearly recreated the Vegas brawl,
which thankfully, fellow fighter
Michael Cheisa recorded backstage.
Once the presser actually began,
Jones, who was still suspended from throwing real punches,
dropped this word bomb.
- I beat you after a weekend of cocaine.
- [Will] This was a theme of the event.
- You look like a crackhead with a suit on.
- I could look like a crackhead with a suit on,
but I've never been a crackhead like you, though.
(laughing) (gasping)
So you can say I look like one, but I've never been one!
- And Cormier understandably had doubts
about the rematch even happening.
- [Cormier] Is this guy gonna mess this up again
by doing steroids, or snorting cocaine,
or sandblasting prostitutes?
- [Will] He expanded on this
while talking to Ariel Helwani after the presser.
- He tested positive for those two things,
his brother tested positive for the same two things,
the same exact time.
There are just so many reasons to believe
that he had been cheating.
- [Will] And while it did provide fodder for trash talk,
there was some fear behind why Cormier brought this up.
He didn't want Jones to fail a test
or do anything to miss the card.
Despite holding the belt, Cormier in the eyes of many,
needed this fight as much as, if not more than Jones.
He still faced the uphill battle of proving himself.
And people weren't shy about reminding him of it.
- [Fan] When you look at DC, is he a legitimate champion,
is that the real belt over there?
- [Jones] Freak no!
He never beat me, he never beat me,
so the belt that he has over there, it's an imaginary belt.
I messed up outside of the Octagon,
I got that taken away from me,
but they guy's never beaten me.
In order to be the champion, you have to beat the champion.
He can fight all the other light heavyweights that he wants,
he can beat every light heavyweight.
Until he beats me, that belt over there is a piece of shit.
- [Will] As for Jones, he also just wanted to regain
the belt and move on.
For all he said, he didn't seem to have any more issues
with DC other than that's who he had to beat.
And on July 29th, he did just that.
Jones stopped Cormier in the third round,
and with a second win, it felt like everyone
could finally get past this.
Joe Rogan interviewed DC in the Octagon
immediately following the loss,
and fighting through tears, he put the rivalry to bed.
- If he wins both fights, there is no rivalry
so I don't know.
- Jones spoke about how tough it was to see Cormier
like that after all he'd gone through,
and praised the work that he'd done for the sport.
Cormier congratulated Jones for the win on Instagram,
and while no one was shying away from a third fight,
even Jones said DC didn't need it
in order to be proud of the career he's had.
And that's the end of the beef.
Definitely nothing else ha...
Why are you still filming?
- [Producer] Just read the script!
- [Will] Less than two weeks after the rematch,
Jones was flagged for a potential doping violation
from a test sample leading up to the fight.
Once both samples returned positive for an anabolic steroid,
he was again suspended and the belt returned to Cormier
as the result was changed to no-contest.
DC offered his support and encouraged
everyone to do the same instead of jumping on Jones.
As the cycle repeated once again,
Cormier’s attitude seemed to finally shift.
Whether it was because he was getting close to 40 years old
or he was tired of sweating what he couldn't change,
he spoke about not needing to justify what he'd done.
He was happy and secure with it all.
And while the idea of a third fight against Jones
clearly was on his mind,
he stopped viewing it as a necessity.
The table had turned where Jones
now needed the rematch more.
He wanted to prove that he could beat Cormier
straight-up with no asterisk.
He sought out Cormier on Twitter,
or took every chance he got to call him out in interviews,
but since Jones was suspended, Cormier had the luxury
of not worrying about it.
That also meant he could speak openly
about how highly he thought of Jones.
Speaking of his struggles, more like a father than a troll.
Which when in reference to a grown man
you're not related to, might be one of the greatest
troll jobs you can pull off, but it's hard to tell
intentions with these two.
Cormier added a second belt to his collection,
doing something that Jones had never done.
And while filming UFC Tonight on Fox Sports,
he spoke about how that essentially allowed him
to look in the rear view mirror at a fighter
still waiting to be reinstated.
- I'm the UFC double champion, right?
I have bosses in the back, and I'm talking about this guy
because I have to, I've moved passed that.
- [Will] He also went out of his way to talk
about how USADA didn't have to worry about him
failing a test leading up to his fights.
- When it comes to USADA,
they can't come to my house anymore at 6 a.m.
I mean, what's the point?
They've been to my house 15 times, enough,
USADA don't come to my house anymore, you don't need to.
You don't need to come, I'm not gonna fail a test,
I'm not gonna make any mistakes,
I'm not gonna have to sit up there and go
"I'm serious this time, guys!"
- [Will] That got Jones fired up, who thankfully
has an outlet for this sort of thing.
Jones' suspension ended partially thanks to good behavior
displayed by him helping USADA find other guilty parties
and Cormier, who is totally over Jones at this point,
had some congratulatory remarks.
DC relinquished his Light Heavyweight title
before the UFC could take it away from him.
And a couple days after it became vacant,
Jones would win back the belt.
He celebrated by immediately calling out Cormier,
shaming him for giving up what he had just won.
- What guy just gives up his belt
because somebody else made it home?
Daddy's home, DC.
- [Will] This got a rise out of DC because of course it did.
It's endless.
We could go into every tweet storm they've fired off
at each other, or every interview question answered
for no reason other than laying on a fresh insult,
but it's a cycle cursed to repeat itself.
So much had to be glossed over or left out of this story
because it's a routine neither of them
seems to completely want to get away from.
And these are two of the greatest fighters
in a generation of great fighters.
But thanks to self-sabotage and happy trigger fingers,
we're talking about this.
To me, this all feels like two guys
who had paths so different, that they couldn't relate
to each other, and therefore,
couldn't see their own similarities.
But considering they'll be linked forever,
they have a bit of time to either sort things out,
or muddy them further.
If you like your beefs decided by punches,
then I think you'll enjoy the Red Wings
and Avalanche beef history.
Or check out this other video that might be
more up your alley.
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