Chi Lewis-Parry went into detail about how his beef with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones originated.
Lewis-Parry was most recently seen confronting Jones when the latter was at a BodyPower health and fitness event in Birmingham, UK last month. The 6-foot-9 heavyweight notably called Jones a “dickhead” and asked him, “You remember last time when you had your brothers? Where are your brothers now?”
You can see the video below:
Lewis-Parry, an undefeated mixed martial artist and Glory veteran, was Daniel Cormier’s training partner when the latter was scheduled to face Jones at UFC 197 back in 2016.
He previously mentioned to Ariel Helwani how following an interview between the two fighters, Jones turned in to a different person and started talking smack about Lewis-Parry. The Briton also claimed at the time that Jones later sent his brother to talk smack to him during the press conference.
Speaking to The Body Lock’s John Hyon Ko, Lewis-Parry explained further as to how everything happened:
“Alright, here’s the story. You’re getting an exclusive. We were at a press conference when DC was supposed to fight Jon the second time at the MGM? We were backstage. So prior to that, DC and Jon had done an interview. I had never met Jon, I had no reason to speak to him. I was part of DC’s team. I had no ill feeling towards him. I was just a training partner for DC. I had nothing to say.
“They finished the interview. I was like ‘do you know what? He seems like quite a decent guy.’ Until we got outside the building. Then he turned into this yapping guy that can’t get into the club. Talking all this shit to the security guard, that kind of guy, you know? And he’s attacking everybody. He’s picking everybody out. Rosendo was there, Bob Cook was there. He’s just talking, talking, talking. And DC and him are having a back-and-forth which is part of the fun, the entertainment. But that’s between them. I’m not going to start talking shit to a guy I don’t know. Then he turns to me and he starts talking shit about me. I was just like ‘why are you even talking to me? Why are we even having a conversation?’ And it got a little bit heated, security came.
“I’ll be honest, I might talk smack but it’s all fun. I’m not insulting anybody’s mum or anybody’s kids. I don’t get personal like that. I understand it’s a sport and it’s entertainment. But I’m the same guy who talks shit to my friends. We play video games and I’ll let them know that they suck. He just started getting quite personal. To the point where I was like ‘well then let’s fight. Like right now. A street fight.’ Security came, we got in the car, we left.”
Backstage
Lewis-Parry then explained how he met Jones, his brothers, and their entourage later on when he was backstage during the press conference.
“We went to the arena to do this press conference like an hour later. I was backstage and I bumped into Alistair Overeem who I’ve known for many years. Originally, I was with the group but DC and them lot went, carried on walking, they didn’t see me stop. So I’m talking with Alistair for like 10 minutes, catching up with him because I haven’t seen him for a while. When I turn to leave, here comes Jon and his brothers and like an entourage, it was like five or six people. And they tried to surround me like they were going to fucking jump me. I just squared up to Jon and was like ‘what are you gonna do?’ His brother started getting involved, jumping up and down like he was going to do something.
“He wasn’t on his own, but he had his manager with him at the first encounter. But the second time, he had his brothers, all of a sudden, he was a different guy. I’m not saying he was afraid the first time. But he was not as cocky the first time, he wasn’t as willing to step forward. But the second time, he had his brothers being all loud and noisy, that he’s kind of stepping to me. And I was like ‘oh, now you got your brothers.’ That was the meaning behind that ‘where are your brothers now?’ [comment]. Because he was happy standing behind that table. But he comes over to say to the security guard ‘don’t hold him back’ but he’s still behind the security guard. See what I’m saying? So it’s all a facade. I’m sure he’d be happy to fight me but in the cage. He wasn’t happy to fight me in the street.”