UFC’s Daniel Cormier has no apologies over his treatment of Jon Jones

Although Jon Jones has submitted a positive test for cocaine, hurt a pregnant woman in a car crash where marijuana paraphernalia was found and he’s been stripped of his UFC belt, it’s light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier who’s being treated as the heel in their bitter rivalry.

Cormier’s response to Jones’ troubles, referring to him as a “junkie� in one Twitter post, has triggered a backlash from fans irked by the champion’s morality play.

At a March news conference to announce a rematch of a January 2015 fight Jones won by unanimous decision, Cormier was booed for jabbing Jones over his troubles.

And again Thursday, in a conference call with reporters, the pair argued, with Cormier telling Jones, “You can [mess] up as much as you want, I don’t care. Everybody’s coming up to me saying, ‘I can’t wait for you to beat Jon Jones,’ [and] I’m like, ‘I got it.’

“I carried emotion into that [first] fight, I’m not doing that again.�

Cormier, who serves as a UFC analyst on Fox, has occasionally come across awkwardly as a company man in the role.

In Thursday’s call, however, he said he doesn’t regret being who he is.

“That’s the approach I will always take,� Cormier said. “I’m an adult, not one to kick someone when they’re down. If anything, I think any upstanding citizen -- any good person -- would do the same thing,� in criticizing Jones’ transgressions.

“I don’t regret it. I would not change a thing. I will still do the things I always do.�

Cormier, 37, said his victories over top contenders Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Johnson in Jones’ absence have assured him he’ll win the rematch while pointing to the strain of Jones’ issues as a factor, too.

“Yeah, I do believe the changes in him will affect the outcome of the fight,� Cormier said.

“But I also believe the strongest indicator will be that I’ve gotten better. I’ve done things to improve myself. So even if he’s 10 times better than he was last January, I don’t believe that’s going to be enough to beat me on July 9.�