The UFC light heavyweight division has long been one of the marquee weight classes for the organization. Some of the promotion’s biggest stars have competed at 205 pounds, but currently the future of the weight class is arguably more uncertain than ever before.

One person not bothered by that reality, however, is reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC), who next defends his title in a rematch with Anthony Johnson (22-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) in the UFC 210 main event on April 8. The card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.

Cormier, 37, admits little of his focus is paid toward the long-term stability of the division. The upper echelon is currently crowded by himself, Johnson, former champ Jon Jones (22-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) and multi-time title challenger Alexander Gustafsson (17-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC), but beyond that there’s a steep drop off in legitimate, title-ready contenders.

“DC” agrees there’s not much going on beyond those names. However, he doesn’t seem to care much, either, because the plans for the remainder of his career don’t include anyone outside the top bunch.

“It’s a very top-heavy our division,” Cormier told MMAjunkie Radio this past week. “You have Anthony and myself and Jones when he gets back (from suspension) and Gustafsson, but I just don’t know if the rest of those guys can actually compete. For me, it’s not even about those guys. I’ve got my next three fights mapped out: I’ve got to fight Anthony Johnson, I’ve got to fight and beat Jon Jones and then I have to fight and beat Jon Jones again. Then I will have accomplished everything I could have ever accomplished in the sport of mixed martial arts.”

Although Cormier could lose the title to Johnson at UFC 210, the champ obviously isn’t expecting that to happen and is planning to repeat the success of his UFC 187 showdown with “Rumble” in May 2015, which he won by third-round submission. Should that happen, the timing would line up well to rematch Jones midway through the year once “Bones” returns from his one-year suspension, which stemmed from failing a drug test prior to a scheduled UFC 200 fight with Cormier in July.

Essentially what Cormier believes is that if the next few fights pan out the way he hopes, he won’t be around to compete against the next wave of 205-pound athletes. Those are currently few and far between, though, with the most prominent being rising contender Misha Cirkunov (13-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC), who recently inked a new UFC contract after a turbulent series of negotiations with the promotion.

“I don’t really have to worry too much about Cirkunov, because by the time Cirkunov is ready to fight for a championship my journey may be complete,” Cormier said. “I’m not too worried about those young guys. That’s going to be for the guys that are in their mid-20s and early 30s to worry about. I’m 37, going to be 38 (on) March (20), so I know what I’m doing.

“Even though it’s top heavy, my desire is to fight those guys in that very top part of the division. I don’t really have the desire to fight those other guys. I want to fight Jones. I want to fight ‘Rumble.’ I would fight Gustafsson, but would prefer not to because that guy really did take me behind the woodshed last time (we fought at UFC 192). I would prefer not to fight Gustafsson, if I’m going to be honest.”

Cormier’s assessment of the light heavyweight division may not be as meaningful if he can’t hang on to the gold at UFC 210. He’s competed just once in the past 17 months, and that came in an extremely short-notice fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 200 in July after Jones was pulled from the event on just three days’ notice. Johnson, meanwhile, has put together a three-fight winning streak since his most recent encounter with Cormier and intends on making good in his second chance to capture UFC gold.

Despite Cormier being confident a second fight with Johnson would come around, he has already beat the knockout specialist once. And he has every intention of forcing history to repeat itself.

“The guy is good. He’s a terror,” Cormier said. “He’s got crazy power, he’s so fast and he’s driven. He’s a driven guy that wants to be the champion, so I knew the rest of those guys weren’t going to beat him.”

For more on UFC 210, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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