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While Daniel Cormier may have spent his weekend trading verbal jabs with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, "DC" says his focus is -- and has to be solely -- on the task ahead of him:
A Heavyweight showdown against the always dangerous and heavy-handed Roy Nelson.
The two will collide in the co-main event of UFC 166 on Oct. 19, 2013, at The Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, in a fight that will mark Cormier's last fight at 265 pounds. That's because the former Olympic wrestler plans to drop down to 205 pounds after the high-profile mixed martial arts (MMA) match.
And while he would love nothing more than to face off against "Bones," Cormier knows he can't afford to slip up against "Big Country" because he claims Nelson is the "most dangerous" foe he has ever faced thanks to his one-punch knockout power.
His words on "The MMA Hour:"
"Roy Nelson is the most dangerous guy I've ever fought my entire career. He can knock me out with one punch. I'm fully aware of that. They (Silva, Mir and Barnett) don't have that one-punch knockout power. Those guys weren't going to just knock me out. Barnett and Mir could have caught me with a submission. But I knew going into those fights that I could stay out of those positions. With Mir, I knew I could just keep him standing. With Barnett, I know how to grapple; I've been grappling my entire life, so I knew I could stay out of submissions. But Roy, man, it takes one punch. And it's not even just his overhand right. He's got a nasty uppercut, nice left hook, he's a good grappler, he can take me down, get on top of me and crucifix me and elbow me like he did everyone on The Ultimate Fighter. There is so many ways I can lose to Roy Nelson that my focus needs to be completely on him."
"DC" also revealed that from now until his battle against Nelson, he won't talk about Jones.
Furthermore, the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner says that win, lose or draw -- contrary to Junior dos Santos' beliefs -- he will fight at Light Heavyweight next regardless if he gets an immediate title shot or not.
And despite Nelson's "Uncle Tom" comments, Cormier says he actually respects the pudgy pugilist, revealing that nothing he says pisses him off, which is in stark contrast to Jones' comments that somehow always seem to find a way to get under the wrestling guru's skin.
But, we're not going to talk about those ... for now.
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