Daniel Cormier Says He May Pick Jon Jones to Fight Over Brock Lesnar

Daniel Cormier spoke with ESPN ahead of his fight at UFC 230 and discussed potential bouts with Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar. Cormier intimated that he will only have one fight left in his career after facing Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 and will have to choose between Jones and Lesnar. Highlights are below:

On his fight with Derrick Lewis at UFC 230: “I didn’t think I was going to fight on this card, but the deal I got was so good. There was no way I could say no, honestly. Especially with a guy like Derrick, who is not known for the best cardio. I’ve got to start fast and hope I can push harder than him, even with a short camp.”

On his fight with Brock Lesnar not being certain: “Counting the Lewis fight, I think I’m down to two fights left. Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise, the fact that I don’t have a crazy, long fight camp to beat myself down. That may prolong it for me, but right now, I think I have this one and maybe one more. I can still fight in March and hit my retirement date. The one opponent that would matter to me most is Jones, because he’s beaten me twice.” (The second win was later overturned to a no contest due to a Jones positive drug test.) The one that would mean more financially would be Lesnar. I think I would always pick the one that means more, but my wife might have something to say about that.”

On taking the short notice fight against Lewis: “I would not have accepted a rematch against Stipe Miocic on short notice, he’s too good under these circumstances. I’m not saying Derrick isn’t good, but Stipe is capable of beating me in different ways. He does different things well. I think in this fight, Derrick has to knock me out to win. Usually, if a guy only has one path to victory, I do pretty well. Yes, I will admit the opponent factored into this.”