Daniel Cormier: 'Cain Velasquez and I didn't spar yesterday, we fought'

In just over two weeks, Daniel Cormier will face Anthony Johnson for the vacant light heavyweight championship in the UFC 187 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, which takes place on May 23, 2015 inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Roughly three weeks after that, American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) team mate Cain Velasquez will try to unify the heavyweight championship when he collides with interim titleholder Fabricio Werdum in the UFC 188 headliner on June 13 in Mexico.

So, how are they preparing for their respective fights? "DC" explains to Chael Sonnen on the You're Welcome! podcast (via MMA Fighting):

"We have to train hard. Guys get praised for what they do when they come out of this gym. Only good things are said about Luke Rockhold right now. When [UFC heavyweight champion] Cain Velasquez fights, only good things. Myself, all of our guys, not even just the top guys. Our guys train really hard and we're going to continue to do it. We're going to continue to train hard. We're going to continue to work our butts off. We're going to continue to spar hard. We have changed our training a little bit. Like, over the course of the week we'll go lighter. Cain and I tomorrow, we'll spar five rounds. We'll spar five rounds, light. Yesterday, Cain and I fought. We didn't spar yesterday, we fought. We fought for five rounds and today I'm feeling it. [Cain] says he's feeling it, but it's why we will be prepared whenever the Octagon door closes."

This probably isn't the reform Dana White was looking for.

Just last month, the UFC president went on record to expose AKA for its "stone age" training methods, which may be a contributing factor to the recurring injuries to Velasquez (among others). As expected, the San Jose-based camp downplayed the criticism and vowed to stick to its winning formula. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If it is, blame "freak accidents."