https://youtu.be/GCapd0w6Zis
After claiming that he was “too emotionally invested” in their first meeting, Daniel Cormier is coming awfully close to repeating that same mistake heading into his scheduled rematch against Jon Jones at next month’s UFC 197 pay-per-view, according to D.C.’s teammate and fellow UFC champion Luke Rockhold.
Rockhold spoke with the folks at MMA Underground recently and claimed that he felt Jones and the crowd reaction got to Cormier at the recent UFC Unstoppable press conference.
“I love DC but yea,” Rockhold said during the interview, which you can watch above. “He played into the “Jon Jones being the bad guy” role too much and let the boos get to him. Just got to block that out. Be yourself. Who cares? If the people like you, they like you. If they don’t, they don’t. If they like Jon Jones, who the f*ck cares? He let that get to him, no doubt.”
Rockhold claims that after the press conference, which he also attended to promote his upcoming rematch against Chris Weidman at UFC 199 in June, he had a talk with Cormier.
“A little bit,” Rockhold admitted. “A little bit. There’s not much to say at this point. I think he kind of lost track of what he was doing there for a second and played too far into “bad guy” Jon Jones and tried to beat him down over outside the cage [issues]. Focus on the technique. Focus on the fight and what’s going to happen. That’s all I had to say, really.”
According to Rockhold, despite all of the mental warfare heading into the bout, if his teammate makes the proper technical adjustments, he can absolutely retain his UFC Light Heavyweight title in his UFC 197 showdown with “Bones” Jones.
“Everyone wants to act like it was that lopsided of a fight,” said Rockhold. “It was fairly close. I think DC just needs to relax. The more relaxation he’ll have the more vision he’ll have and the more he can pick his takedowns here and there. I think he had a lot of success in the boxing. Implementing more takedowns and staying out of the clinch. Just basic things that are pretty obvious.
“There’s other avenues that we might be focusing on, but it’s pretty basic information. If you go back and watch the fight, the little areas that he was caught up in. I think he let the stage get to him too much last time and he just needs to focus on relaxing. Relaxation so he can see what’s happening in front of him and what’s unfolding and how to adjust to it.”
UFC 197: Cormier vs. Jones II is scheduled for Saturday, April 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Make sure to join us here at MMANews.com on 4/23 for the best UFC 197 live results coverage on the web!
H/T to MMAFighting.com for transcribing.