UFC
Daniel Cormier surprised he got knocked down by Anthony Johnson at UFC 187, but thinks that shot backfired on "Rumble"
May 24, 2015 - 1:45:22 PM Daniel Cormier surprised he got knocked down by Anthony Johnson at UFC 187, but thinks that shot backfired on "Rumble"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"[Before the fight I was thinking] 'I'm pretty nervous. The guy hits hard. Then I thought, 'oh my goodness, he hit me hard.' Once I was able to secure him and land some punches on the ground, I felt better. I wasn't that hurt by the knockdown, I was more off balance... We knew he was going to press us, so when he landed the first big punch, it might have backfired on him because it gave him more confidence to try and throw more and then I was able to do some timing and duck under a punch and take him down... [When he landed the knock down punch I thought] 'Wow, I can't believe I just got dropped, I never got dropped before.' Not only does this dude punch hard, he's fast. The first round, our plan was to take him down, then grab his head if he tried to get back up, and make him carry my weight and wear him down. He had to carry my weight the whole time. In the second round, I landed a really good elbow and he looked like he didn't want to come back out in the third."

-Daniel Cormier talks about getting hit by Anthony Johnson and taking back over at UFC 187 during the post-fight show on Fox Sports 1.

Penick's Analysis: The real question mark coming into the fight was how well Cormier could handle Johnson's power. I expected more in the cardio department from Johnson into the fight, but Cormier's right that the first knockdown backfired on Johnson. He got over-aggressive trying to finish it off, and he quickly punched himself out in that first round. Credit to Cormier for surviving the early assault and coming back strong. That series of elbows at the end of the second round absolutely took Johnson out of it, and he had nothing left to offer in the third. Again, credit to Cormier for breaking Johnson like he said he would, it was a big win.