Daniel Cormier knows just how dangerous of an opponent Alexander Gustafsson can be.
But you won't hear the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight kingpin praise or hype up the towering Swede ahead of their headlining title fight at this weekend's (Sat., Oct. 3, 2015) UFC 192 pay-per-view (PPV) event in Houston, Texas.
Especially seeing as how "The Mauler" got knocked out in the very first round in his previous fight by Anthony "Rumble" Johnson (recap).
As "DC" recently told MMA Fighting, he isn't going to help build Alexander's confidence back up, which was pretty low at one point. If anything, he's going to try to keep it down as much as possible.
"A guy who just lost in two and a half minutes, why would you build him back up? If you think his confidence is already low, why should I rebuild it for him? I'm going in there to fight that guy, I want him to have as many questions as possible heading into this fight. That's exactly what it's about. I hope that it doesn't come off as I don't think this guy is dangerous. I think this guy is dangerous, he's a real threat. If I don't fight my best, I could lose to him. But I think we covered all our bases to make sure that doesn't happen on Saturday."
And don't even get Cormier started on another one of "The Mauler's" losses, as the former Olympian says Gus shouldn't want people praising him for his five-round war against Jon Jones a few years back.
A fight he lost via unanimous decision.
"Everything I've said is the truth. I think he should be annoyed by that. If you value your wins, and you value what you've done over the course of your career, then you wouldn't want people harboring over a loss, even though you fought extremely well."
On the bright side, Gustafsson can put all of that behind him if he can dethrone Cormier from the top of the 205-pound mountain and end his reign as champion before it picks up any steam.
But what chance are you giving "The Mauler" of pulling it off?