Jon Jones not interested in Cormier TUF season
ESPN staff
October 15, 2012

Jon Jones will not be entertaining the idea of a suggested TUF rivalry with Daniel Cormier, insisting he is not willing to let the Strikeforce man piggy back on his reputation.

Cormier recently won the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix to be become arguably the biggest commodity outside of the UFC. It is widely expected he will switch promotions as soon as his Strikeforce deal is done.

Currently a heavyweight, Cormier may well find a more natural home at light-heavyweight, and he is tipped as a genuine challenger to the titles of both Junior Dos Santos and Jones.

Cormier has called on the UFC to make a TUF season involving he and Jones as coaches, insisting it would help introduce him to the UFC public, while giving Jones a “challenge that he doesn't get from most guys”.

“I'd be interested in a TUF season in the future, but it'd take the right opponent,” Jones told ESPN in a recent interview. “As far as Daniel Cormier saying he wants to coach against me, he would want that wouldn't he?

“He's relatively unknown, I want to do it when the fans are aware of both guys, and when it's spunky and when it raises a lot of viewers. I'm not here to raise his stock.”

Jones has often found himself the target of abuse in recent times, with Matt Mitrione labelling him “arrogant” and claiming he would “love” to welcome Bones to the heavyweight ranks. Jones says he chooses not to respond in order to prevent giving such fighters column inches in the media.

“That's a big reason why I don't reply to a lot of insults,” Jones said. “Every gossip, everything that's said about me, I hear about it because it's my job to know what's going on.

“I think some people think I don't know what's going on and that's why I don't reply. Believe me, I hear what's going on, but I choose not to reply because I refuse to give people that acknowledgement.”