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Rafael Cordeiro would like to train ‘genius’ Jon Jones: ‘Maybe in the future my gym’s gonna be open for him’

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – One of the most well-respected coaches in MMA history would like to train one of the best fighters to ever compete.

Rafael Cordeiro, founder of Kings MMA, has been training some of the best martial artists on the planet for years. Starting his journey as a trainer at the legendary Chute Boxe in Brazil, he worked with the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Fabricio Werdum, Anderson Silva, and Cris Cyborg. He was awarded “Coach of the Year” twice by Fighters Only Magazine, in 2012 and 2015.

Cordeiro also trains UFC stars of today like Beneil Dariush, Giga Chikadze, Kelvin Gastelum, and Marvin Vettori, among many others.

If given the opportunity, he would now like to add another legendary name to his resume, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

“Jon Jones was one of those guys, maybe in the future my gym’s gonna be open for him,” Cordeiro told MMA Junkie Radio recently when asked to name one fighter he would like to train. “I believe he’s one of the best guys in the world, but to be honest with you, I want to work with him. In the situation that he has now, it’s maybe not a good situation because it changed a little bit in gyms, but one day, I want to share with him what I think about life. My thoughts about life, about martial arts.”

Jones was recently ousted from his longtime home JacksonWink MMA by Mike Winkeljohn following a recent alleged physical altercation with his fiancee in Las Vegas. Since then, Jones has been in search of a new gym to call home. He has recently spent time at Fight Ready, the home of former two-division champion Henry Cejudo.

“For me, Jon Jones is a genius and I would like to spend some time with him in the gym to understand where that mentality comes from,” Cordeiro said. “I believe everyone has something (like) Jon Jones inside of them, but for me, it’s going to be a pleasure training with him one day to discover a little bit more about Jon Jones.”

Cordeiro believes spending time with the former light heavyweight champ would be beneficial to both parties, even if they don’t step on the mat together to physically train.

“This is a good kid,” Cordeiro said. “Sometimes everybody judges, he has his problems. So? Everybody has problems. Nobody should accept what he did, especially when he has daughters, but everyone has circumstances in life that make things happen like that. Circumstances make you do stupid things sometimes, but we can’t judge nobody.

“I talk about martial arts. He has his martial arts side there – it’s there. I think it can help him to work more and more.”

Check out the full interview with Cordeiro in the video above.

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