The reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion of the world, Daniel Cormier, has only had one thing on his mind since he lost to Jon Jones at UFC 183 back in January, 2015 — redemption.
Dana White even announced that Jones will face the winner of this Spring’s UFC 210 light heavyweight title match, fresh off of his 1-year USADA suspension, but for Cormier to get that fight he must first defeat Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson for a second time on April 8.
Cormier appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani this week ahead of Cormier vs. Rumble 2, and he said that Johnson’s a quitter and ‘that’ll never change.’
“He’ll be able to go about 10 minutes,” said Cormier.
For the first encounter between Rumble Johnson and Daniel Cormier at UFC 187, Johnson blasted Cormier and sent him crashing to the canvas, but Rumble’s gas tank didn’t hold up for long. Once Cormier got on top of Rumble, everybody knew it was over — it was just a matter of time, and the fight came to an end at 2:39 of round 3. Daniel Cormier had won the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Championship via rear-naked choke.
“He’ll have to outwork me for 25 minutes, and I don’t think that’s possible.” - Daniel Cormier
The champ also cited Johnson’s heavyweight fight against Andrei Arlovski in WSOF, where Rumble gassed and looked horrible halfway through. Since that time Johnson has settled in at 205 pounds, but there have still been many questions about his endurance in 5-round fights.
UFC 210 will go down on April 8 and air live on pay-per-view from Buffalo, New York — the first show the organization has put on since 1995 (UFC 7), and will be headlined by Cormier vs Rumble Johnson rematch for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
Daniel Cormier also got the speak his mind about Tyron Woodley, Ryan Bader’s move to Bellator, the value of Ronda Rousey’s return, and more on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, which is viewable here:
