Jon "Bones" Jones and Daniel Cormier will face off on January 2 in what is one of the most anticipated bouts in a long time. While the talents of both men are the driving force for the high interest, a brawl that broke out in August while the two promoted the fight has sent excitement sky-high.
Cormier insists that their brawl was not staged, and came about because of genuine dislike between the two UFC stars.
"It happened because Jon and I really haven't seen eye to eye for a very long time. We just don't like each other. I don't like him professionally and I don't like him personally. It's real. I just think that it was a result of all of that emotion coming to a head," Cormier said.
He admits that the brawl has kept interest at a peak, despite the original date being pushed back because of an injury Jones suffered during training. "It gone from a big fight for UFC fans to a must-see event for people in all walks of life," Cormier said.
Despite that, he regrets his role in the incident. "It won't happen again," Cormier said. "There were some good things that came out of it (publicity-wise), but that wasn't without some bad consequences as well. We both had to meet with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. We got fined and got community service. We both paid a price for it too."
Cormier was fined $9,000 by NSAC while Jones was slapped with a $50,000 penalty after being deemed the instigator of the fight.
Originally Cormier had taken the fight on short notice, despite having a torn meniscus. "I would be outside of myself to not say I went into this fight knowing my knee was pretty jacked up, and I was going to fight through it to get a title," Cormier told MMAJunkie.com.
With Jones now battling the newer injury, Cormier said he's been given time to better prepare for the match. "The first fight was kind of short notice. This way, it's going to give me three and half to four months of training to get more prepared for the fight."
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