{"id":774064,"date":"2026-07-02T10:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/774064\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T10:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:29:10","slug":"daniel-cormier-says-bones-turned-down-wrestling-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/774064\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Cormier Says “Bones” Turned Down Wrestling Match"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former UFC two-division champion says both men were offered seven-figure purses for a six-minute wrestling match, but Jon Jones declined the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Daniel Cormier says MMA fans were close to witnessing another chapter in one of the sport’s greatest rivalries. According to the former UFC<\/a> two-division champion, both he and Jon Jones<\/a> received seven-figure offers to compete in a wrestling match, but “Bones” ultimately turned down the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Daniel Cormier Says Jones Rejected Lucrative Offer<\/p>\n

Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones were at the center of one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history. Although both fighters have now retired from the UFC, DC believes fans came close to seeing the longtime rivals compete once again, this time in a wrestling match.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a Q&A session on his YouTube channel, Cormier revealed that both men were offered seven-figure purses for a six-minute wrestling bout, but claimed Jones refused to accept the challenge.<\/p>\n

“The thing with Jon Jones (…) it wouldn\u2019t be RAF<\/a>, because they can\u2019t afford to pay it,” Daniel Cormier began, “but there\u2019s an organization that offered us both seven figures for a six-minute match. He will not do it. I\u2019m telling you, he will not do it. I\u2019m not lying. I went through the negotiations, and I said, ‘If he wrestles me, I\u2019ll do it. But it\u2019s going to be 10-0. I\u2019m going to tech him,’ but unfortunately, he knows it\u2019s going to be 10-0, so he won\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nDaniel Cormier Floats Around Possibility of Grappling Match vs. Jon Jones<\/p>\n

Daniel Cormier believes Jones declined the offer because he knows he would struggle under wrestling rules. According to the former champion, Jones also rejected the possibility of competing in a traditional grappling match.<\/p>\n

“So then I said, ‘How about we do a grappling match?'”, Daniel Cormier continued. “He said no, only submissions. I said, ‘Why don\u2019t we do points, right, where we win? I don\u2019t want to be tied at the end.’ ‘No points, only submissions.’ So he won\u2019t do it. He won\u2019t compete with me in anything he thinks there\u2019s a chance that he\u2019d lose in. So, give up on the Jon Jones thing. He\u2019s not going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel Cormier vs Jon Jones: A Rivalry that Never Fades<\/p>\n

Cormier and Jones first met at UFC 182 in January 2015, where Jones earned a unanimous decision victory. They squared off again at UFC 214 in July 2017, with Jones initially winning by knockout before the result was overturned to a no contest after he tested positive for a banned substance.<\/p>\n

Although nearly a decade has passed since their last meeting inside the Octagon, the rivalry resurfaced<\/a> recently after the pair coached opposing teams on the Russian MMA reality show ALF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former UFC two-division champion says both men were offered seven-figure purses for a six-minute wrestling match, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,797,786,8812,11877,785,85,787],"class_list":["post-774064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-daniel-cormier","tag-fighting","tag-heavyweight","tag-jon-jones","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}