Somehow the notion got out there that Jon Jones was “ducking” Alexander Gustafsson for wanting to negotiate a contract. Until we know the nature of those contract negotiations it is all just speculation, so it’s tough to say that Jon Jones is “ducking” anyone, although it makes for a good headline. Daniel Cormier spoke about his possible shot at the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and he seemed kind of amused at the idea of Jones ducking anyone at 205lbs right now. [source]
“Jon Jones isn’t afraid of anybody,” Cormier said. “I think that’s what we kind of miss in this whole ‘he’s ducking this guy, he’s ducking that guy’, Jon Jones isn’t ducking anybody. He’s the champion of the world for a reason and that’s because he’s good.
“I think it’s posturing more than anything. We don’t know his compensation package, we don’t know what he makes, what he wants to make, we don’t know if his decision was based on they didn’t sell as many pay-per-views as he wanted. You don’t know. There’s so many things that go into those types of things.”