What's worse than being brutally KO'd by a juiced-up Jon Jones??
For Daniel Cormier, you'd assume the answer would be "nothing" ... but the UFC light heavyweight champ told us dropping his fight at UFC 220 this weekend could be even more painful.
"As bad as July was, it can actually be worse if it happens again," Cormier told TMZ Sports.
"My motivation is not only competition, but to avoid feeling like I felt in July, and putting ... everybody that's close to me through the disappointment that we felt.