Daniel Cormier scolds Jon Jones for being ‘too harsh’ on Tom Aspinall following UFC 321

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier questions whether or not his longtime rival Jon Jones is taking a correct stance on Tom Aspinall.

UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall’s first undisputed title defense resulted in a no-contest following multiple eye pokes from Ciryl Gane in the first round at UFC 321. Aspinall was deemed unable to continue competing due to his injuries, and the UFC is working to book a potential rematch between the two behemoths.

In the meantime, Aspinall has come under fire for allegedly looking for a way out of his fight at UFC 321. Aljamain Sterling, TJ Dillashaw, and others have questioned the severity of Aspinall’s injury.

Enter Jon Jones, who recently gave a scathing assessment of Aspinall’s short-lived performance at UFC 321. He called Aspinall’s grappling ‘extremely overrated’ and questioned the UFC champion’s ability to overcome adversity.

Jones’s biggest rival, Daniel Cormier, questions whether or not Jones has any room to criticize Aspinall after months of failed fight negotiations.

Daniel Cormier questions the validity of Jon Jones’s assessment of Tom Aspinall after UFC 321

In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Cormier weighed in on Jones’s recent remarks about Aspinall following UFC 321.

“Maybe Tom Aspinall isn’t what Jon built him up to be in his mind prior to that fight, but I don’t know that we saw enough to form an opinion of his overall game in four minutes,” Cormier said. “It’s just the truth. … Is Jon Jones being a little bit too harsh? Can we really form that strong an opinion based on four minutes? Does Tom Aspinall not deserve a little grace? And are we reacting only in this way because we’ve never seen him struggle at all?

“And also, how much can you struggle in four minutes? He had a bloody nose, and I think because he had that bloody nose, it made people feel, ‘Oh my god, this dude’s in trouble.’ Again, still 21 minutes left in the fight. I watched Khabib Nurmagomedov lose a round to Justin Gaethje, and ended up submitting him afterward and overtaking the fight. A lot can change between Minute 4 and Minute 7, 9, 15, 21, all the way to 25.” (h/t MMA Junkie)