According to the former dual UFC champion, Islam Makhachev, Amanda Nunes and Leon Edwards, nominated for this award along with the American, did more to win the prestigious sports award.
“I doubt that one fight a year against Cyril Gan is enough reason to do that,” Cormier said in the latest episode of his ESPN analytics program. “And this is not a stone in the garden of Cyril Gan. This is just one fight, while there are whole stories behind the rest of the athletes. ”
“Makhachev won the title by defeating Oliveira and defended it against Volkanovski. Amanda lost her belt to Peña and then got it back. And you know what Leon Edwards did. Jon Jones is in the nomination only because he is the biggest star. He is the biggest star with a championship belt, not counting Israel Adesanya. That’s why he’s there. The craziest thing is that he can win because he is the biggest star among all the nominees.”
“I think John needs one more performance to qualify for the ESPY award. Otherwise, the storyline just doesn’t add up.”
At the same time, Cormier has no doubt that Jones deserves the award in the category “Best return of an athlete”, where he will compete with baseball and basketball players of the strongest American leagues.
“Here I agree – this is the best return to the sport, without a doubt. Three years later he returned and became the heavyweight champion of the world. It’s an absolute yes”
It should be noted that in addition to Jon Jones, the reigning UFC welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, who claims the ESPN Espy Awards in the category “Best Champion Performance”, is also represented in two categories.