Daniel Cormier on Jon Jones: I like his heel persona

Jon Jones has engaged in a trash talking game with Daniel Cormier leading up to their Sept. 27 fight, which is something unusual for the champ.

Jones doesn’t typically talk before a fight, instead leaving most of that to his opponents (think Chael Sonnen). Cormier thinks that’s a sign that the champ is a little rattled.

“I like his heel persona. But for me, it just tells me that he’s a bit uncomfortable because this is out of character for Jon Jones. He doesn’t directly go at his opponents like he has with me. This is out of character a little bit,” Cormier said Monday as a guest on “The MMA Hour” via MMAFighting.com.

“I’m not in his mind or under his skin,” Cormier added. “But I know that he knows that he has a real fight ahead of him September 27th, so maybe he’s trying to use mind tricks on me to affect me. But, I mean, oh my goodness that is just so petty and childish. He can’t use mind games on me. I’ve deal with all this stuff for so long in my life that mind tricks don’t work. They won’t. They won’t ever work.”

Cormier also said he’s pleased Jones gave up the goody two-shoes act he tried to put on early in his career. Between the DUI and clash with Dana White, it didn’t take long for that image to dissipate. This Jones persona is much better. Now he just needs to leave his tweets up rather than delete them.