Cormier: Jones doing media while suspended is 'desperate'

Even while serving a suspension, Jon Jones can draw Daniel Cormier's ire.

On Friday, "Bones" will be in Buffalo - where Cormier will defend the light heavyweight title against Anthony Johnson a day later - to address the media for the first time since being handed a one-year ban by the USADA late last year.

Now owning the title Jones held for four years and fighting a stone's throw from his hometown, Cormier was naturally asked during Wednesday's media rounds if he was relishing the chance to fight in his longtime rival's old stomping grounds before he did.

"DC" didn't beat around the bush, expressing his astonishment at the oft-troubled Jones' inability to quell his issues outside the cage and make a simple dream of competing in his home state a reality.

"I do, because it's so ironic to say that I would rather fight here than in Madison Square Garden, but you can't because you tested positive, or because you ran over some lady, or you did something to make sure you cannot do the one thing you want to do. It's crazy," Cormier told MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani. "To me, it's like 'wow.' It's really not that hard to stay out of trouble. Yeah, I think it's funny. But, he's going to be here, which in itself is crazy."

Cormier was equally as candid when asked if he was surprised that Jones was breaking his silence while serving a suspension.

The reigning champ took the former's imminent media appearance as a sign he hasn't been humbled by the trials that have plagued him throughout his career, and until Jones' suspension expires in July, Cormier won't be concerned with reviving the rematch between them, one that was scrapped by Bones' doping violation just three days out from UFC 200.

"Yes, very, because if I was suspended for anything, especially for something that, whatever it may (have) been said to be, and I'm still suspended, there's no way I'm out in public. I'm staying home. I lick my wounds until my suspension is done and then I come back out. But I think that says a lot about your character, because are you truly sorry for what you did if you're willing to prance around, even though you're actually still under suspension? They can't talk to me about a fight against Jon Jones. He is not eligible, and when he's eligible, then we can talk."

The 38-year-old Cormier claimed Jones would be attending some sort of after-party during fight week, which only baffled him further, given the former champ's history of substance abuse.

"And then, I'm going down the street, and I see a poster for an after-party. What genius did that? What genius decided to give Jon Jones, a recovering alcoholic, an after-party? Who does it?"

Despite his befuddlement, Cormier wasn't irked by Jones' braving the public so much as he deemed it a pathetic attempt at compensating for his absence from what would have marked a long-awaited homecoming.

"It doesn't bother me, I just think it's desperate. Very desperate. It's like the old quarterback that was super successful in high school, and he comes back to the parties with his jacket on. You should be fighting here, not hanging around wearing your varsity jacket with your four state championships."