UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier will be defending the gold in a rematch against Anthony Johnson at UFC 210.
The champion knows that for the first two rounds of the fight, playing it safe will be the way to go.
“I have to be careful in the first seven minutes because the reality is, I’ve felt him over the course of 14 minutes now and I know the difference in his power from minute one when he dropped me, to minute 13. So I can base that on experience. I felt him at minute 13 and granted, he’s still very powerful, but it isn’t that same explosive power that’s there in minute one, two, three, four, of the very first round. So I’ve really taken into account the beginning of the fight, being very aware, being ready to go from the start, and making sure I’m implementing my game plan from the first bell all the way until I finish the fight,” Cormier said on the Anik & Florian Podcast.
Cormier defeated Johnson in their first meeting at UFC 187, that win came by way of submission.
Even though they have collided before, the champion is expecting a better version of Johnson the second time around.
“I anticipate a much better version of the ‘Rumble’ I fought last time. A guy that’s worked on the areas that he’s struggled in and a guy that’s addressed them. A guy that’s coming in confident and is coming in trying to finish the fight. I feel like we have trained for a better version of him. I feel like we’ve covered all of our bases, dotted our I’s and crossed our T’s. We’ve worked so much in the areas we feel we struggled in last time, and even in the areas that we were successful, we still have to improve in every facet of our game,” says Cormier.
UFC 210 takes place on Saturday, April 8 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York with Daniel Cormier and Anthony Johnson headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
