Daniel Cormier reveals Cain Velasquez’s advice following first career defeat to Jon Jones

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

On Saturday night, Daniel Cormier will have a second opportunity in recent memory to try and claim championship gold in the light-heavyweight division. Faced with the task of defeating Anthony Johnson at UFC 187, Cormier plans to use his previous experience in a title fight to ensure that the second attempt will be his final one en route to the title.

Cormier even delved into the advice that heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez gave him after the fight. Given that Cain lost his title to Junior dos Santos on the inaugural UFC on FOX broadcast, the champ’s advice resonated with Cormier.

“He said we all go through it. He lost and went through it. This isn’t the last they’re going to see of us. Eventually we will win that championship.”

He even suggested that Cain was more than open to a potential fight with Jon Jones, even if only to avenge his friend.

“Anytime you see your friend lose you want to fight the guy that beat him. He just doesn’t want to see me sad. I wanted to fight Junior dos Santos when he knocked (Cain) out. Cain still has the confidence that I can get it done and he wants to see me get it done.”

Watch the YouTube clip here.

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About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.