Daniel Cormier shares why he could never train with a former rival after Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker's collab
01/27/2025 07:57 PM
Daniel Cormier had an interesting take on Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker teaming up in the gym.
Former UFC middleweight champions Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker nearly broke the internet when they were seen training and hanging out together in the gym ahead of Adesanya’s upcoming fight. Despite their past bad blood and two middleweight title pairings, the two elite middleweights squashed their beef and drew mostly positive reactions from fans and pundits.
UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier had several rivalries during his illustrious fighting career, but none as heated as with Jon Jones. Cormier and Jones treated fans to one of the wildest feuds in UFC history, featuring press conference brawls and plenty of personal shots between them.
While Cormier respects Adesanya and Whittaker for putting their past on the shelf, he doesn’t know if he and Jones will ever be able to replicate their friendship.
Daniel Cormier compares Jon Jones rivalry with Israel Adesanya/Robert Whittaker bromance
During a recent episode of Good Guy/Bad Guy with Chael Sonnen, Cormier reacted to Adesanya and Whittaker squashing their beef.
“I think it’s great, I just don’t know if I ever could’ve done it,” Cormier said. “It’s temporary, Jones and I, it’s not like it used to be. We can honestly be in the same area with each other now and be cordial, it’s not what it used to be where before we would just fight everywhere. Whether we were in a bar or a club, and I’ll be honest, that was fun! But I don’t need that fuzzy feeling. I don’t hate that Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield squashed their beef and they’re laughing, joking. But if Evander never forgave him for biting his ear off, I wouldn’t’ve had a problem with it. Sometimes rivalries need to live.
“I don’t know that [Adesanya and Whittaker] had that type of rivalry, and that’s why I’m okay with them being friends. They didn’t like each other in the moment because they both wanted the same thing so bad. Once that thing isn’t available to either of them right now…the thing that divided them is now kind of off to the side and they can move past that…[but] I like my rivalries to last.”
Adesanya defeated Whittaker twice during their careers; most recently by unanimous decision at UFC 271. Now on the outside looking into the middleweight title picture, both Adesanya and Whittaker are looking to fight back to the throne they once held.
Daniel Cormier’s feud with Jon Jones may never fully dissipate
Adesanya is looking to snap the first losing streak of his MMA career after recent defeats to Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis. Whittaker most recently lost to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 by submission and is targeting a return to the Octagon later this year.
As for Cormier, while he and Jones are no longer heated rivals, he’s apprehensive about eventually being friends with his two-time light heavyweight foe. But the two sides shared some positive back-and-forths leading up to Jones’s heavyweight wins over Ciryl Gane and Stipe Miocic.
Despite their current chapter, Jones and Cormier may never fully see eye-to-eye after their blood-boiling feud. But Adesanya and Whittaker showed that even the most bitter rivalries can be set aside with time.
