Daniel Cormier Says It's His Decision As Champion Where He Fights Jon Jones

Jon Jones' return has caused quite a bit of buzz in MMA recently, but his longtime rival Daniel Cormier doesn't care. According to the new UFC Light Heavyweight champion, he'll fight the seemingly unstoppable Jones on his own terms.

In an interview with Ariel Hewlwani on The MMA Hour this week that not wanting to fight Jones stems from Jones not wanting to fight Alexander Gustafsson in Gustafsson's homeland of Sweden in 2014.

"Jon was completely against it, because Jon said, 'I'm the champion. I should decide where I want to fight,' It was something to that effect. It's the same situation. I don't understand how he can judge me differently than how he wants to judge himself," Cormier said.

See Also: Jon Jones Says Vitor Belfort Was On Steroids For Their Fight And The UFC Knew About It

Cormier says despite his unwillingness to fight Jones in New York, he's provided the UFC with a couple of times that may end up working for him.

"I've given them (the UFC) a couple dates I'd be willing to look at," Cormier said. "Maybe you guys will know something soon. I'm going to make my decision as the champion sooner rather than later. Just put it like that. if it is the Garden, April 23 maybe becomes more intriguing. Obviously, like I said, for historic purposes it would be cool to fight in Madison Square Garden. But we don't want to really give this guy what he wants. Yeah, yeah. I guess I'll think about April 23."

You can see Helwani's full interview with Daniel Cormier above.