Morning Report: Daniel Cormier says it would mean more for his legacy to beat Jon Jones than Brock Lesnar

This weekend, Daniel Cormier defends his heavyweight title against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 in Madison Square Garden. Cormier is a heavy favorite to retain his belt, and though he may be focused on the task at hand, the rest of the MMA world is seemingly looking past Lewis to Cormier’s swan song.

Cormier has repeatedly insisted that he will retire from MMA when he turns 40, something that happens in March. That means, following the Lewis fight, Cormier has one final turn in the cage before hanging up the gloves for good. After winning the heavyweight title at UFC 226, all signs pointed to Cormier taking on Lesnar for his final bout. However, last month, Cormier’s bitter rival Jon Jones was deemed eligible to return to MMA following a 15-month suspension, so now a trilogy fight between the two also looms. With one fight left before he calls it quits, the MMA world is desperate to know who Cormier will fight next year, and though Lesnar still seems to have the inside track, Cormier admits that beating Jones would mean more for his legacy, even if it wouldn’t make a huge difference anyway.

“For the legacy, to win against Jones would be better,” Cormier said at the UFC 230 media scrum (video by MMANytt). “But at the end of the day, even if I win the fight, I’m still down 2-1. It doesn’t really change much, he won the series. I’d have to stick around and try to beat him again. If I beat Lesnar, I’m up 1-0. But yes, for legacy, beating Jones because he’s the only guy that beat me in my career. That’s the one that means more for my legacy.”

Cormier and Jones have a history mired in controversy. But after Jones failed an in-competition drug test for their rematch at UFC 214, it looked as if Jones would be suspended for several years and the two would never fight again. Now, Jones is back ahead of schedule but Cormier says he had to move on from that fight and getting back in the mindset would be difficult. Moreover, Cormier seems exhausted of the intertwining of their careers.

“I had to change the mental process in regards to him,” Cormier said. “I had to truly let go of it completely because when he failed that next test I was like, ‘I know I’m done by 40. If everything is what it is, if USADA is what they say they are, I’m never going to get to fight this kid again.’ I had to truly remove myself from anything in regard to him. The reality is, if USADA is what USADA is, you fail the first time and you get a year, if you fail a second time, two years seems like it’s gonna be realistic. At two years, there was never gonna be a way and that’s what has allowed me to kind of move past it.

“We’ll never be friends. We’ll never be cordial. Me saying he’s a good fighter and stuff is probably going to be the extent to which we say pleasant things about each other. Even, he did an interview where he said he was happy for me – I don’t believe that. It’s fine though. He does not have to be happy for me. My accomplishment is my accomplishment. On December 29, if he happens to win the belt, I am not going to be happy for him but his accomplishment does not mean less or more based on my reaction. It’s his. It’s not Daniel and Jon or Jon and Daniel. It’s Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. We are two different people, so our reactions to each others success do not truly matter all that much.”

But before they even could face off against each other, both men have fights to attend to: Cormier with Lewis and Jones with Alexander Gustafsson. At UFC 232 this December, Jones and Gustafsson will have a rematch of their 2013 Fight of the Year, this time for the vacant light heavyweight title that will be stripped from Cormier when the fight takes place. And despite his dislike for Jones, and the situation in general, Cormier believes Jones will beat Gustafsson to reclaim the belt, ensuring that the conversation of him versus Jones continues for a few months longer.

“I think Jones beats Gustafsson,” Cormier said. “I fought them both and with Alexander, outside of that big knee, nothing really hurt or anything. He kneed me in the third round but that was a round I won probably four minutes and 30 seconds of until he landed the knee, that’s why I won the fight. The second round he cut me but he won that round based on the fact that he got takedowns. That was at a time where I fought every takedown so hard that if I ever gave up a takedown, I lost the round.

“He’s a good fighter and he will present challenges to Jones because of his length that I can’t really present Jones with. But I think that Jones is just better. I know that when I’m fighting him, there are a number of things I need to worry about that I didn’t necessarily feel that against Alexander.”

Daniel Cormier takes on Derrick Lewis in the main event of UFC 230 on Saturday evening at Madison Square Garden in New York City.