Earlier this month Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones finally squared off at UFC 182. The bout saw Jones earn a unanimous decision win over Cormier, leaving many to wonder what Cormier’s next move would be after losing his first professional bout.
This past weekend, Alexander Gustafsson and Anthony Johnson squared off in Stockholm, with Johnson picking up a quick TKO win, and earning a title shot against Jones.
Cormier sees the chance to get back into title contention with a title eliminator bout against Gustafsson.
“He’s got the biggest name. We’re both coming off of a loss. So it would make sense. If that’s the case, if they say Daniel, you and Alexander fight, and the winner will get a title shot against Anthony or Jon, then, yes.”
“It needs to be guy with name recognition. So where the people say, ‘ok Daniel beat this guy, we need to see him either fight for the championship again, or he’s very close.’ Because to me Alexander and I, realistically, are two guys who could fight for the belt. Once you get past us, and Rashad, they’re all rematches. past them who you going to put in the cage with Jon?”
“Maybe the golden ticket is Gustafsson, because if Rashad gets Gustafsson, maybe Rashad gets the title shot.”
– via MMAFighting