LAS VEGAS - On a fateful night in Anaheim, Jon Jones made an offhand comment to Daniel Cormier that has echoed for years.

"I bet you that I could take you down," Jones told Cormier, moments after meeting the former Olympic wrestler the first time.

How was Jones to know when he crossed paths with Cormier backstage at UFC 121 that he and Cormier would find themselves on a collision course? Jones, at the time, was still five months away from winning the UFC light heavyweight title, and he only got there that fast because then-teammate Rashad Evans had to drop out of a fight with champion Mauricio Rua.

Cormier, who was in town to watch teammate Cain Velasquez win the heavyweight belt from Brock Lesnar, had just five pro bouts under his belt, just debuted in Strikeforce and was in a different weight class than Jones.

And yet here we are, four years later, with Jones and Cormier getting set for one of the most anticipated fights in UFC history. And while the tensions between the two -- fueled again on Thursday with an intense staredown and a hallway argument between the two fighters' camps -- continues unabated, the words Jones dropped on Cormier on that fateful SoCal night which started it all have never been forgotten.

"He really needed that moment to create a story in his head," Jones said at Thursday's UFC 182 media day. "I was completely joking. I was reaching out, everything I said, my body language, everything I said was just a way to introduce myself. ... To take it seriously, deep down, he wanted to have a story with me. He wanted to have beef."

Still, the question remains: Is the champion, whose amateur wrestling career maxed out at the junior college level, actually bold enough to try a wrestler who came up one spot shy of an Olympic medal at his strong point?

Cormier hopes so.

"I want him to try to wrestle me," Cormier said at Wednesday's open workouts out on the MGM Grand's casino floor. "I would love for him to test my wrestling. And what if he takes me down? It doesn't matter, I'm just going to get back up. That's the key. I'm not sitting here saying I won't ever get taken down in a mixed martial arts fight. Will I defend every takedown? Yes. What happens if a guy scores a takedown? You get up. It's not that big of a deal."

Jones, of course, has made a game out of beating his opponents at their strengths, from clobbering Glover Teixeira with heavy hands to outwrestling Chael Sonnen.

And Jones' wrestling coach, Izzy Martinez, knows it's a part of the champ's nature.

"You know Jonny," Martinez told MMAFighting.com. "He loves the challenge, he loves to embrace the challenge, he loves to break guys and he likes to break them by beating them at their own game."

Still, Martinez insists that Jones isn't going to go too far out of his way just to prove a point. It was just over a year ago, after all, that Jones fixated on trying to outbox Alexander Gustafsson, a move which nearly cost him his championship.

"He didn't want to overemphasize on anything," Martinez said. "In the Gustafsson fight, he emphasized the boxing a lot, and he wasn't too happy with the performance. He made sure this fight, he didn't overemphasize in anything. He did what Jon Jones does best. He's in great shape, mentally he pushed through some barriers. It's just exciting."

Still, that hasn't stopped Jones from believing he can hang Cormier if it turns into a wrestling meet.

"I just love the fact that people assume that if Daniel takes me down, he wins the fight," Jones said. "I love how people assume he needs to get close to me and then I'm suddenly at some type of a disadvantage. Honestly man, I'm so secure in my abilities as a fighter - in the clinch, in the top game, my bottom game, about my wrestling."

Middleweight contender Luke Rockhold was among those who have helped Cormier prepare at San Jose's American Kickboxing Academy for the fight. For his part, he's not sure whether Jones will actually attempt to outwrestle the Olympian or whether it's just an attempt at playing mind games.

"Jon tries to manipulate his opponents," Rockhold said. "Who knows if he's going to wrestle or not? He might just be saying that to open other avenues. If Jon comes to wrestle, he's going to be in big trouble. DC is just as good a defensive wrestler as an offensive wrestler."

"Jon has never fought a wrestler better than himself," Rockhold continued. "His best wrestler was Chael, and Cormier is on a different level. We've never seen on Jon on his back, Daniel has good top position and control. Jon, we've never seen it, so who knows what he has on his back? Other than that, there's more openings. You make him think about the takedowns, it opens up the standup."

Jones remained unimpressed. "Cormier has a big ego when it comes to his wrestling credentials," he said. "I think he thought about me every time he saw me. He was a guy who was off my radar. It was so much more to him than it was to me when I said it."

True enough, on Jones' last point. As for Cormier, he left reporters with a simple reminder that after all this talk, there's only one way to find out how things will go.

"I don't care what Jon Jones says about me," Cormier said. "The thing I love about this sport is he can make fun of my fourth place in the Olympics, he can make fun of my body, he can make fun of everything. At the end of the day, he has to stand in front of me for 25 minutes. That'll be the judge."