Daniel Cormier On Fighting Rashad Evans: It’s Difficult, I Learned A Lot From Him

Former Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier came into the UFC with a ton of hype behind him thanks to his May 2012 victory over Josh Barnett in the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix finals.

However, he hasn’t exactly delivered on that promise, notching underwhelming decision wins over Frank Mir and Roy “Big Country” Nelson in his only two Octagon bouts. “DC’s” undefeated record has him ranked at number two in the heavyweight division but he simply refuses to fight the top man in that division, his good friend and training partner Cain Velasquez.

So Cormier is making his long-rumored cut down to light heavyweight in order to face off with former 205-pound champion and friend Rashad “Suga” Evans. The pivotal bout will go down in the main event of UFC 170 in February. “DC” appeared on today’s edition of “The MMA Hour” to discuss his feelings about the blockbuster fight with his former training partner Evans:

“I think this guy’s going to be in the Hall of Fame someday, so it’s a true test to show where I am. I know that you gotta beat those types of guys if you ever plan to get a championship fight, so it is what it is. It’s difficult. We talked a couple days before. When you see a guy, his name on that bout sheet, it becomes a little different because then it’s real. Rashad actually had my Olympic team t-shirt.”

“More importantly, the very first time I fought, in 2009, about two months later Rashad fought Thiago Silva in I think January of 2010. He brought me into his training camp to prepare for Thiago Silva. Rashad was the first guy to show me how to go about my business in this sport. We stayed together for two weeks, I lived at his apartment and we went to practice everyday and I learned a lot from him.”

Cormier and Evans have a storied history that goes back a few years but there’s no love lost in the fight game. This will be the second fight in a row where Evans will face one of his friends, as he took out fellow announce partner Chael Sonnen in the co-main event of last month’s UFC 167.

Cormier has already had a much talked-about feud with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who has publicly bashed Cormier for being out of shape. Indeed he is not the prototypical image of a fighter, but you can’t argue with his results. He should have a noticeable power advantage at light heavyweight as he looks to notch his first finish in UFC.

But will that be enough to get past a former champion in “Suga?”

Photo Credit: Mark D. Smith for USA TODAY Sports