MMAOddsBreaker’s Frank Trigg speaks with UFC 187 light heavyweight Daniel Cormier as he prepares for his upcoming main event title fight this Saturday night (May 23, 2015) against Anthony Johnson at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The former two-time Olympian knows he isn’t facing a fighter as diverse as Jon Jones this time around, but he expects a much bigger threat from the striking realm and he’ll have to be more cautious with his attacks come fight time:
“I think I’ll be going forward and pressuring [Anthony Johnson], but I’ve got to be very careful here because this guy has real power. That’s one thing I didn’t really worry about against Jon [Jones] because he doesn’t have the biggest punch. The kicks are very dangerous and the elbows, I think you’ll see a lot of guys like Glover Teixeira, Alexander Gustafsson, his face was so ripped up at the end of the fight because they take a lot of damage and the damage was on his face. As you take that damage, it gets you tired and that’s where he gets his finishes. Even Vitor [Belfort], when he finished Vitor, he did it with a [Kimura] but he did it after Vitor had taken so much damage over four rounds that Vitor left his arm out there. Machida got hurt and he got finished. With this guy [Johnson], he’s got real power. Early, he’s got real power. I’ll have to be careful on my entries with Anthony Johnson because he has the ability to actually score a knockout.”