UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and challenger Daniel Cormier were caught in a bad situation after they had a brawl in front of the media during an event for UFC.
The ruckus happened right after Jones got head-to-head with Cormier and then he nudged the challenger with his own head during a photo opportunity face-off on stage. Incident caused a media frenzy as the organizers tried to break them apart. The stage backdrop was falling as both fighters were riled up in anger. They even took the incident over to twitter when the issue was not resolved.
Although some may see it as a vicious incident that happened outside of the octagon but on marketing's point of view, it could be a good promotional stint that can hype the match between the two fighters.
Besides that fans from both sides are also divided over the brawl and also Cormier as well. Cormier acknowledged that he was not proud over what happened and that both fighter needs to be better role models. But if he going to face the same situation again, he said that he would react in the same manner.
He said "In the situation with the staredowns, they can be very intense, and that's okay. I just don't think that we should make physical contact with each other whenever we're doing these staredowns."
He added "In most instances, when guys get into these types of situations they react. We're fighters, and if he did that to me again, I would react in the same fashion. I'd push him off me. I'm not gonna allow him to dominate me in any way, shape, or form leading into this fight and the night of the fight."
But the brawl didn't just end there. Videos of Cormier and Jones circulated over the internet where both fighters were trash talking each other during off air an at ESPN appearance. Cormier seems regretful over the event and would like to focus on the fight rather than the untoward incident.
"You've got two of the very best fighters against each other for the biggest prize in the sport, so I think we need to focus more on that than on the stuff that's happened outside of the cage" Cormier said. "The stuff that's happened outside the cage is not good. It's not a proud moment for me. It's not a proud moment for Jon. We have to carry ourselves better and show people why they are really tuning in to the fight."
