Video
Original Description
Daniel Cormier joins SportsCenter to react to heavyweight champion Jon Jones announcing his retirement and why he believes Jones is done for good and won’t return to the Octagon.
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Video Transcript
let's go to UFC fight night now we got
Jamal Hill and Khalil Roundtree Jr in
the light heavyweight division roundtree
was off to a quick start in the first
two rounds watch this targeting the lead
leg of Hill with heavy low kicks hill
forced to switch his stances throughout
the first couple of rounds and his leg
it was swollen after those first two
rounds round three was really taking
control early and he did not let up as
things went on round three three minutes
left roundree splits the left and then
follows up with the left hook sits Hill
down as Hill is forced to retreat on
this one roundtree just showing who's
dominant here really going out but this
one would go the distance under 30
seconds left in the third and Roundtree
catches Hill with the hard right hook
drops him the fight would go the
distance but Roundree wins a unanimous
decision
meanwhile elsewhere in the UFC big news
tonight as Jon Jones who was widely
considered the greatest mixed martial
artist of all time has retired ufc CEO
Dana White made the announcement today
saying Jones informed them of his
retirement on Friday the UFC had been
working towards booking a heavyweight
title unification bout between Jones and
the interim champ Tom Aspenol but with
the retirement Aspenol elevated to
undisputed champ now you see if this
really is it for Jon Bones Jones in the
octagon he's assembled quite the case
for being the GOAT racked up a UFC
record 16 title fight wins in his career
his 20 unbeaten streak from 2010 to 242
24 also stands as the longest in the UFC
history okay we got to get more on this
announcement so we welcome in UFC
analyst and Jon Jones arts rival Daniel
Cormier to the show look Daniel why do
you think Jon Jones decided to retire
now
um you know it feels to me like Jon
Jones was struggling to find that love
that you need to get through the
training camp and go and fight a guy
that is very dangerous a guy that's a
heavyweight champion and a guy that's
much younger and um when he started to
ask himself those questions can I go in
there and fight Tom Asenol i don't think
he had the desire to do it go through
the camp and put in the work necessary
to get ahead of this young man
all right so look let me just ask you
straight out have we seen the last of
him fighting in the octagon is he done
fighting for good
it feels like it because they were
trying so long to try to get him to
commit to this date to commit to a fight
with Tom Aspenol to begin with so when
he comes out and says he's retired it
didn't matter what they offered him no
matter what they tried to do to get him
inside that octagon he kind of gked at
it so I believe that this is the end of
Jon Jones and if it is uh what a way for
him to go out i still feel like I need
to hear it from him but we will see so
now no one knows Jon Jones inside the
ring inside the octagon better than you
if this is indeed the end for him where
does he stand in the goat debate for you
i think he's in the conversation okay
you know um Jon Jones and I fought two
times and he beat me both times
obviously there were some issues with
the testing and stuff but when he beat
me in Anaheim I was never better i was
never better a fighter than he beat me
in that second fight um his skill set
his toughness his durability was second
to none and it shows in the records that
he holds um but at the end of the day I
feel like the last month the way he
handled his career his fighting his
approach to this whole Tom Asen
situation has really put into question
uh um what he really is walking away
from this for h what do you mean by that
do you mean he should have hand How
would you How would you have expected
him to handle it you know I would have
expected him to say "You know what man
i'm going to fight this kid or I'm not
going to fight this kid i'm not going to
string him along." And even Dana White
said it he said in this whole thing I
feel bad for Tom Aspenol he never got
that fight he wasted all that time and
lost a lot of money by not being inside
the octagon he strung the kid along when
he didn't really need to he knew he was
done he knew he was done when he went to
Thailand he knew he was done after he
beat Stipe Miocic and man Ryan if he
said "I am done after beating the
greatest heavyweight of all time in
Madison Square Garden," it would have
been a fairy tale ending but right now
by walking away the way that he did it
opens up the door for people to question
whether or not he just said "I'm not
fighting this guy so I'm willing to walk
away from the sport that has been my
entire life." All right DC thank you so
much and nobody knows the sport better
than you do and it is interesting that
he's choosing to walk away this way
thank you so much for the insights my
friend we appreciate it now I want to
read the Jon Jones this just came out
not long ago so Jon Jones has now
released a statement on X saying in part
"Today I am officially announcing my
retirement from the UFC this decision
comes after a lot of reflection and I
want to take a moment to express my
deepest gratitude for the journey I've
experienced over the years
[Applause]
[Music]