UFC 182: Jon Jones is going to wrestle Daniel Cormier because he's 'more than capable' of taking him down

Before he became the undefeated Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight No. 1 contender, Daniel Cormier was a heart attack on the wrestling mats. Not just in college but afterward, as well, where he terrorized the freestyle circuit while making his way to the Olympic games.

Jon Jones is not impressed.

The reigning UFC 205-pound kingpin, who also knows a thing or two about the ground game, is so confident he can take "DC" to the floor, he plans to wrestle with him at the upcoming UFC 182 pay-per-view (PPV) event, booked for Jan. 3, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

From his conversation with MMA Fighting:

"I will try to wrestle Daniel Cormier. I definitely plan on making him work extremely hard for any takedowns he's going for, and I'm definitely going to be looking for takedowns myself. I'm more than capable of taking him down, and I believe in my top game. So I'll definitely look to attack Daniel at his strengths, and weaknesses. I grew up wrestling. I started wrestling when I was 12 years old. I think a lot of people forget that, especially when I'm fighting a guy who's competed on the Olympic level. They make me seem like I'm just a striker. But you know, my sense of wrestling is very strong. I would say that's still my base. I have very successful stats in wrestling, pretty high takedown percentage and pretty outstanding takedown defense. I've had all types of fights, but I like these ones. The little added motivation, [a guy] telling you you're going to get your butt kicked and dominated. It just feels good. At the level that I'm at, just being in so many great fights, you need little things to keep that fire going. Not only going, but raging."

Both men did their share of raging last September.

While Jones has proven to be immune to wrestling attacks in the past, shucking off takedown attempts from Rashad Evans and Chael Sonnen, among others, "Bones" has never faced a wrestler the caliber of "DC," and it should be noted that Alexander Gustafsson was able to get the champ south at UFC 165.

Tough talk? Or legit gameplan?

See who else is fighting at UFC 182 right here.