UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier said, at 36, he’s been around long enough to know what’s hot and what’s not.

By extension, he said he understands what sells and what doesn’t when it comes to UFC pay-per-view events.

Right now, he acknowledges he’s far from critical mass as far as his popularity. But he also understands that’s because, at the moment, he doesn’t have the right dance partner. He said his title win over Anthony Johnson at UFC 187 and this past month’s defense against Alexander Gustafsson “didn’t do all that well” with PPV buys.

“You really do need the right person to make it happen,” he told MMAjunkie Radio.

The good news is he’ll get that soon enough. After some well-deserved rest and relaxation, Cormier (17-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) is expected to fight ex-champ Jon Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC), who defeated him in January only to be stripped of the belt in the wake of a hit-and-run accident.

Just when and where it happens is up for debate. Cormier said he wants time off after three grueling bouts this year and doesn’t want to fight in Jones’ home state of New York despite a potential event at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

Whenever they do meet, however, people are going to watch. Their first bout, which headlined UFC 182, did big business for the UFC, he said, generating 800,000 pay-per-view buys for the promotion (though he said 700,000 later in the interview). By contrast, Cormier said his bout with Johnson for the vacant belt did “less than 400,000” buys and a follow-up with Gustafsson did “less than 300,000.”

“The fight (at UFC 187) with (Johnson) had (middleweight champ) Chris Weidman on there too, who did almost 1 million against Anderson Silva. But against Vitor Belfort, it was hard for us to crack the number that we wanted to. You have to look at it as a whole.”

On who’s the top box-office draw in the UFC, Cormier obviously pointed to the promotion’s current drivers, women’s bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and interim featherweight champ Conor McGregor.

Cormier also said Weidman has done “very well,” no doubt thanks to his pair of fights with Silva, and Jones has done “very well.”

“Rashad (Evans) has main evented some of the biggest pay-per-view events in UFC history, and he’s still fighting, so he has to be one of the top-five draws,” Cormier said. “He did something like (800,000 PPV buys) with Jones and did almost 1 million with (Quintin) ‘Rampage’ (Jackson), and (700,000)-something with Chuck (Liddell).

“And then (there are) Anderson and Nick Diaz when they come back. So no, I would not be one of the top-five draws.”

But Cormier said he takes it all in stride.

“You’ve got to be realistic with yourself as you approach these situations, and I think I do that, and that’s because of the experiences I’ve had in life,” he said.

And after he and Jones meet again, he might be able to say he’s broken new ground in his popularity.

“Way over 1 million,” he estimated their rematch will do in terms of PPV buys. “I would love for us – for Jon and I – to do 1 million-and-a-half (buys). In our first one, we did 700,000, but there are a lot of factors that could make this one really big. Not only our rivalry, but Jon coming back from his legal issues.

“I believe that it can be a really, really big pay-per-view.”

Can he make $10 million in one night if he reaches the end of his new contract?

“No,” he said. “Not going to make 10 million for one fight. Unless something changes and I become a massive, massive draw.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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