At UFC 214, the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion in Jon Jones is challenging the current champion in Daniel Cormier.
While the two would later become bitter rivals, the first time Jones met Cormier was backstage at a UFC event.
"We were all backstage, just sitting, hanging out, fighters being guys, no fans around or anything. And one of the guys points out Cormier and says he's Velasquez's new wrestling coach, and that he's supposed to be a really big deal in the wrestling world. Since I've been around the UFC, I've always had a kind of little-brother vibe about me when it comes to the wrestlers who went Division I and to the Olympics. I wasn't the best wrestler—I was a junior-college guy,” Jones said to Bleacher Report.
Jones would tell Cormier backstage during their first meeting that he could get a takedown on him, which may have been the spark that ignited their rivalry.
"Hey man, I hear you're a good wrestler. I bet you if we wrestled, I'd get you down. My whole intention was I was fucking with him," Jones said. "It was a way to start a new friendship."
UFC 214 serves as the rematch between Jones and Cormier because Jones won the first encounter by decision at UFC 182.
UFC 214 takes place on Saturday, July 29 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
