Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier lost the gold to Jon Jones via third round knockout at UFC 214.
Jones has previously expressed an interest in becoming friends with his longtime rival, but Cormier finds a friendship with him a hard thing to achieve.
?I believe he?s being genuine,? Cormier said on UFC Tonight. ?I do believe that he is trying to turn over a new leaf. I think he?s trying to show that he?s a different person than he was in the past. With that being said, friendship would be very difficult for us to achieve because of our history. And I?m OK with that, I?ve always said that. We don?t have to be friends. I?ve always respected him for the competitor that he is. I even congratulated him for getting the job done on July 29th. But, in terms of going forward, we will be professional because we have to until the cage door closes again.?
Cormier and Jones fought one other time outside of UFC 214, because Jones won their initial meeting at UFC 182 by unanimous decision.
The former champion would even compare the fight with Jones to fighting a bad ex-girlfriend.
?If fighting was a nice ex-girlfriend, she would have allowed (Jones) to walk up, double knee me, and knock me out in ten seconds, but no,? Cormier stated. ?She had to give me some success before it happened. It was just too easy to just say ?you know what, don?t let the guy in the fight at all.? I try to make jokes (but) I need to get better.?
Friendship or not, the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion has previously stated a third fight with Cormier could potentially happen.