UFC’s Daniel Cormier out to elevate his name vs. Rashad Evans

Daniel Cormier has beaten former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir and former “The Ultimate Fighter” winner Roy Nelson in his last two fights.

The 13-0 light-heavyweight from San Jose, perhaps best known as UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez’s training partner and close friend, next month gets an opportunity to boost his name brand even more.

He’ll fight former light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans as the co-main event on UFC 170 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The main event is Ronda Rousey’s women’s bantamweight title defense against Sara McMann.

For Cormier, Evans stands as the final barrier between him and a title shot at Jon Jones, who has said Cormier still has work to do before he deserves that shot.

“Ultimately, I think we’re going to fight if I put the performances in I need to,” Cormier said. “He’s right I have work to do, but if I get past Rashad Evans I think I’ve put in all the work that needs to be done.”

Evans is coming off a first-round technical knockout of former two-division title contender Chael Sonnen, who saw his own title aspirations fade.

But Cormier’s wrestling is superb — he coaches Velasquez — and his grit in the Strikeforce organization made him an automatic addition once that company was bought by the UFC.

While Alexander Gustafsson is first in line for Jones after his April title defense against Glover Teixeira, Cormier, 34, wants to be in that mix.

“Evans is a very tough fight because of who he is, a former champion, a guy who’s done everything you can do in the sport,” Cormier said. “It’s my time to go to the top of the sport. I’ve worked hard. I know some things would really have to work out in my favor to get a title shot quick, but I’m going to try to put on an exciting fight and if they raise my hand, that’ll speak for itself.”

Cormier said with Velasquez sidelined by a shoulder injury/surgery perhaps for all of 2014, he’s willing to move up to heavyweight for some marquee fights.

He repeats, however, that he never wants to fight Velasquez.

“I’ll fight in heavyweight if they want me to, I just don’t want to fight Cain,” Cormier said. “I want to be a champion and I want big fights. He and I — I’m his wrestling coach, we prepare for fights together.

“I believe firmly that if not for Cain Velasquez, I would not be where I am. He pushed me. I would not have improved as fast as I could. And I would never want to hurt him in a fight.”

The focus is Evans, and entertaining the UFC fans, who Cormier noticed were quick to flock to Gustafsson after he delivered Jones his toughest test yet in September.

“Come to this fight, tickets start at $50, less than the pay-per-view, and great seats are $500, half of what they usually are,” Cormier said.

Self-promotion never hurt anyone.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire