Cormier to decide 'as the champion' when and where he faces Jones

Jon Jones made waves recently when he posted a photo on Instagram along with a caption suggesting he was returning to the Octagon on April 23.

Of course, April 23 is incredibly significant. Although MMA is currently illegal in New York State, the UFC has already booked Madison Square Garden on April 23 in the hopes the sport would be legalized by then.

Basically, Jones announced his intentions to violently take the light heavyweight title back from Daniel Cormier at "The World's Most Famous Arena" in the spring.

Cormier, however, is trying invoke champion's rights, telling Jones and the promotion that, as champion, he'll ultimately dictate when and where they'll fight.

"I've given (the UFC) a couple dates I'd be willing to look at," Cormier told Ariel Helwani on "The MMA Hour," according to MMAFighting.com's Marc Raimondi. "Maybe you guys will know something soon. I'm going to make my decision as the champion sooner rather than later. Just put it like that."

Although he failed in his attempt to wrest the title from Jones' at UFC 182 in January, Cormier captured the vacant belt at UFC 187 in May after Jones was suspended and stripped of the title following a hit-and-run arrest.

As champion, Cormier doesn't feel Jones has a right to dictate terms of their rematch, citing the ex-kingpin's unwillingness to face Alexander Gustafsson in Sweden as a fair precedent.

"Jon was completely against it, because Jon said, 'I'm the champion. I should decide where I want to fight,'" Cormier said. "If I'm not mistaken, it was something to that effect. It's the same situation. I don't understand how he can judge me differently than how he wants to judge himself. Again, it's just Jon being Jon."

Grandstanding aside, Cormier admits there's a certain appeal to potentially being a part of the UFC's historic first foray into Madison Square Garden.

"If I had to be completely honest, in terms of how historic it would be and how big it would be, obviously that would be a big deal," Cormier said. "Now, for it to be Madison Square Garden, I think honestly Helwani, if it is the Garden, April 23 maybe becomes more intriguing. Obviously, like I said, for historic purposes it would be cool to fight in Madison Square Garden. But we don't want to really give this guy what he wants. Yeah, yeah. I guess I'll think about April 23."