You would think that getting beat twice by Jon Jones is the reason that Daniel Cormier is considered 2nd best in the UFC, and you would mostly be right. I can't help but feel like DC has perpetuated the problem beyond anything it ever would have been. Putting Jones on that pedestal and publicly declaring him the greatest and his only goal, it left him at such a great deficit in the eyes of fans when he failed. If the guy had argued his career more and played down Jones' career and skills, it wouldn't have hurt his reputation in the same way. It's not that difficult to angle either. DC won the most stacked heavyweight tournament ever, beating opponents with big size and experience advantages. He went undefeated in two of the all time biggest organizations in that weight class with wins over two former UFC heavyweight champions. He has beaten fighters who have held major world titles at welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight, and openweight. He is the only man to beat, let alone finish twice, Rumble reincarnate. Andre Arlovski couldn't even do in this the middle of his career resurgence from 2011-2015. He beat Alexander Gustafsson more decisively than Jones did. He was more accomplished in their similar background of wrestling by a long shot. He was on the right path calling Jones out for his out-of-competition problems, but there was so much more he could have said.
I AM NOT SAYING DC HAS DONE BETTER THAN JONES. I am also not saying that it would have been the high road, but the dude basically beta'd himself the fuck up, you might say it was his bread and beta. Matt Hughes lost to Dennis Hallman twice. Josh Barnett lost to Cro Cop three times. BJ Penn lost to Frankie Edgar 3 times. Chuck Liddell got finished twice by Rampage Jackson. Dan Henderson is 1-2 against Vitor Belfort. All of the losers in those head-to-head matchups are either considered better than their foes or at least still have plenty of people arguing that they are better. This is because they went on to accomplish OTHER THINGS than their opponents did (or already had). It is also because they didn't go around saying that they weren't as good as guys who beat them. In word and in action, they didn't make their careers about their losses. DC could have saved so much face if he had a different tune. He could still save face if he changes his tune. I hope he fights some more heavyweights, even if he doesn't permanently go back. I hope he considers competing in Metamoris or ADCC. Calling out middleweights to fight him at Franklinweight would be acceptable to me. I just really hope he lets the Jones thing alone. There is so much left to do.
