It had lots of meaning and psychology in it.
Conor's trash talk and his build ups are like Fast and Furious movies, just pop corn shit that is made up and does not stand the test of time. Just some dry insults and quick remarks to promote the fight that are prompty forgetten after. Even Jose Aldo, all he did was just throw dry insults at him and Aldo does not speak English so the man could not even defend himself. It's not interesting to go back to.
But I've been going back and rewatching some of the Jones and Cormier press conferences and interviews. They had a lot deeper and more interesting rivalry than anything Conor has had. What a history.
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And it was all started by Daniel Cormier.
Cormier, I feel that he has/had a "I'm the daddy" attitude in general. He needs to be in command and he needs to be the daddy in a given situation. Even when he interacts with Khabib and others in videos, he always comes off as having a father figure attitude. The daddy, the team leader, alpha wolf of the pride. And Jones did not bow down to him. At all.
I feel like Cormier goes by and really respects the rank. He respected his "elders", his trainers and people who helped him up and in turn, now that he reached the position he is in, he expects respect from people he considers below him in the wrestling world. And he considered Jon Jones below him.
Then Jon Jones went up to him and disrespected him by playfully telling him he'd take him down. I think this is the worst insult he could've thrown at Daniel. To Daniel it was like a young lion going up to the leader of the pride and biting him in the leg as a playful gesture. And I am pretty sure Jones did not mean it as an insult. Because Jones, unlike Daniel, I don't think goes by rank. He seems to treat everyone the same way. And yes, his lengthy troubled history does not change my opinion that he does not look down or up at people.
Daniel of course took Jones' remark as the ultimate insult and that set off in my opinion of the the greatest MMA rivalries that ultimately resulted in complete ego destruction of Daniel Cormier.
I have never seen an ego destroyed like that. I felt awkward for Daniel. He got destroyed physically and more importantly psychologically. Jon Jones completely burned down his reality.
Daniel spent the whole first fight fighting to take Jones down to prove a point. That is all he wanted; to take Jones down, if he had taken Jones down repeatedly and Jones still won the fight, it would still have been a mental victory for Cormier. But Jones had other plans and he took Cormier down. That was a humiliation for Cormier who I feel like spent the rest of the fight trying to take Jones down, rather than to win the fight.
Leading up to the second fight, Joe Rogan's interview with them was very interesting. Cormier constantly told Jones that he does not deserve to be in the position he is in. He considered it a cosmic injustice that a "scum", "lowest of the low" like Jones is better than he is.
It also highlighted how great Jon Jones truly is. He really is on a journey to be the greatest. He handled everything like a king. Jones has a very underrated mind game and trash talk. There is a reason that man is the best. He is simply suprior and will not be shaken. He is so convinced that he is the best, nothing, no insult or accusation Daniel threw at him phased him at all. He just knew he was better and he was looking over Cormier on to the horizon where the greats rest.
This rivalry was a man who simply could accept that somebody is suprior being forced to accept it. It was a violation of psyche.
One of the best, real and meaningful rivalries in MMA.
