UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is gearing up to do battle with Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 192, where he’ll defend his belt for the first time.

Cormier won the title after submitting Anthony Johnson in a fight to determine who would grab the vacant belt after former king Jon Jones was suspended and stripped.

A lot of people were shocked and confused when the UFC announced that Gustafsson would be challenging for the title, after being KO’d by Johnson in his previous fight.

Cormier was a little shocked too, but ultimately thinks it will lead to a small mental advantage.

Here’s what he told MMAJunkie:

“Being the way that he lost to Anthony (Johnson) kind of made it surprising that I was fighting him. But for me, if there was a guy, I’d prefer it be a guy who just experienced what he did in the octagon last time he was there, because not only did he get destroyed, he publicly said he was thinking about stopping fighting and pursuing something different.”

“Anybody fighting right now that’s thinking about the other side, you do hold a little bit of an advantage. I’m not saying it’s an advantage to win the fight going out, but going into your training sessions, you don’t have your eyes on what’s next. You’re still focusing in the moment.

“He had to get refocused and think about doing this again. He thought about quitting, and at the end of the day, that’s not good when you’re fighting.”

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