UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has revealed a new wrinkle in his long-standing rivalry with former champ Jon Jones.

Although Cormier (20-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is scheduled to challenge Stipe Miocic (18-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) for the heavyweight title at UFC 226, he simply can’t avoid interactions with or questions about Jones (21-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC).

Case in point, Cormier and Jones have grabbed headlines in recent days with a deeply personal Twitter exchange. Moreover, the first question on today’s UFC 226 media conference call was addressed to Cormier, and it was about his most recent social media confrontation with “Jones.”

After two fights and several years of verbal warfare, Cormier said there’s nothing that surprises him about Jones anymore.

“It’s kind of what he does,” Cormier said. “Before our very first fight there were some direct messages sent, and he said he was my daddy or some (expletive) like that. I guess fans, somebody told him something in reference to my father being murdered, so he had (UFC President) Dana (White) call me on three-way to apologize for saying anything like ‘I’m your daddy.’ But, every time we argue, he goes back to ‘I’m your daddy’ or something like that. He didn’t mean to apologize. So there’s deeper meaning to ‘who’s your daddy?’

“There’s deeper meaning to the history and him going through that unnecessary step of having Dana call me on the phone so he could personally apologize for saying anything about my father when he just kind of goes back to it every time we start to argue. So there’s deeper meaning to most of the stuff that we say. So outside of saying anything about my wife, and also the thing about daddy. Look, the guy’s not a good guy, so why would a scumbag like that have any limits?”

Cormier and Jones last met in the octagon at UFC 214 in July 2017. Jones won the fight by third-round knockout to reclaim the 205-pound title, but the result was later overturned to a no-contest, and Jones was stripped of the belt after testing positive for a banned steroid. He’s been on the sidelines since and is still awaiting punishment from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

From the current champion’s perspective, he’ll always be tied to Jones one way or another. He can’t outrun the fact they have one of the most notorious rivalries in MMA history, nor does he try to anymore.

The difference between him and Jones, though, Cormier said, is that he’s able to actively move on with his career and achieve new things, such as potentially becoming the second simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history at UFC 226.

“At this point, when a guy’s been as inactive as Jones, he ties himself to certain individuals to keep his name in the – he tries to keep himself relevant,” Cormier said. “It’s easy to talk to trash to me because people always ask questions. We’re getting on the conference call, me and Stipe are fighting next week, and the first question is about Jon Jones. I answer the question, then he obviously sees my answer to the question, so it gives him an opportunity to kind of put himself back into relevancy.”

UFC 226 takes place July 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Cormier vs. Miocic headlines the pay-per-view main card following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Although Cormier is willing to open up on his past with Jones, that doesn’t mean he’s not focused on the task at hand. He knows there’s a historic opportunity on the horizon, and he plans to make the most of it.

“This is the biggest fight of my career because I’m fighting the heavyweight champ of the world, the most successful heavyweight champ of the world,” Cormier said. “Stipe is great. Do I think he’s the best heavyweight of all-time? No. I still think Cain Velasquez is. But I do think he’s the most successful heavyweight champion of all time. It’s a big fight.”

For more on UFC 226, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.