BOSTON—“Jon Jones took a polygraph test to prove his innocence,” Daniel Cormier affirmed during the press scrum following his UFC 220 public workout. “And I’m going to say this: Ted Bundy passed a polygraph test.”
He then joked that Bundy “then killed the f—ing guy that was giving it to him.”
Cormier defends his light heavyweight title against Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220 in Boston on Saturday night. The fight serves as the co-main event preceding the Stipe Miocic-Francis Ngannou bout for the UFC heavyweight championship. Wednesday’s open workouts featured a surprise appearance by Khabib Nurmagomedov, a short, impromptu address by Dana White, and hundreds of fans braving the snow to catch a glimpse of the best in the business breaking sweats while hitting mitts.
Breitbart Sports asked the light heavyweight champion what motivates him after the departure of Jon Jones, the elusive whale to his determined Captain Ahab, from the sport.
“My motivation is in my kids, you saw my kids,” he explained. “I provide for them with this. I see it every day. If you’re not going to be motivated by something so precious, something so innocent, something so worth living for and fighting for, then what’s going to motivate you?”
The former Olympic wrestler entered the boxing ring at the Reebok gym in Boston’s seaport district with his son, daughter, and wife by his side.
The 38-year-old affirmed that he does not plan to fight into his forties, making a rematch with Jones—the only man to best him in the octagon—unlikely.
Rather than chase the whale, Cormier, appearing more content than Captain Ahab, says he wants to focus on his children’s pursuit of sports rather than his own athletic interests once he hits the big 4-0.
But on Saturday night, a 28-year-old Swiss striker owning a 15-1 record, stands in the way of Cormier’s dream of retiring in 2019 as a champion.