Daniel Cormier clears the air on viral Jon Jones conversation from UFC’s ‘Fight Inc’ documentary

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier didn’t direct an obscene gesture towards Jon Jones, as some originally suspected, during a now-viral clip from the Fight Inc: Inside the UFC documentary.

Jones is expected to return to the Octagon later this year to defend the UFC heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic. He hasn’t fought since capturing the then-vacant heavyweight belt against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285.

Jones and Miocic were supposed to meet at UFC 295 in November before Jones withdrew due to injury.

Cormier and Jones will always be linked after their two heat-filled showdowns in their UFC careers. The bad blood that their rivalry featured made it one of the most bitter feuds not just in UFC history, but in combat sports.

As filmed as a part of the documentary, Cormier and Jones could be seen having a cordial, albeit brief conversation ahead of UFC 285. After the two sides hung up the phones, Cormier flipped off the camera, which some interpreted as a gesture towards Jones.

Cormier says the gesture wasn’t directed at Jones and wasn’t malicious in intent.

Jon Jones 🤝 Daniel Cormier phone talk https://t.co/GmGjJOY2XT

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 8, 2024

Daniel Cormier reflects on Jon Jones pre-UFC 285 phone interview

In a recent upload to his YouTube channel, Cormier explained why he flipped off the camera immediately after the chat with Jones.

“With Jon Jones and I, for a long time, I wouldn’t call his fights,” Cormier said. “I would just tell my producers and tell the people: ‘I don’t want to do it’, because my emotions were so strong towards him, that I didn’t necessarily want to call Jon Jones’s fights. Especially while I was still competing…I’m not actively competing anymore, so I said to myself, let’s do this. Because these will be some of the bigger fights in the UFC, so I need to be there, do my job, and put this whole chapter behind me and show that I can be professional and call his fights to the best of my ability…

“I think I’ve done that…you kind of have to gauge the energy,” Cormier continued. “He said ‘Hi, can I speak to Daniel?’, which was very odd. Jon and I aren’t great friends, and probably never will be great friends, and that’s ok. He and I don’t need to feel like there’s an obligation for us to have a great relationship…guys, I wasn’t flipping off Jones! Everybody made a joke in the room afterward, so I flipped the bird. It was clever because it makes it look a certain way.”

Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier will likely come face-to-face soon. While they’ll never be close friends, it seems that both sides can put most, if not all, of their bad blood behind them.