Daniel Cormier details how an injury is hindering his UFC return
Daniel Cormier had all the expectations to fight his final fight before his 40th birthday.
Well, it appears that is no longer the case as no fight has been booked in time, and that is due to Cormier being hurt. He last fought at UFC 230 where he defeated Derrick Lewis by submission but the win costed him.
“I f—ked my back up at UFC 230. It hasn’t recovered as fast as I hoped it would,” Cormier told MMA Weekly.
“I have to take some time off. I had to take some time to try and make myself healthy because my schedule was so heavy last year. Three fights, three five round training camps, very heavy training camps. Last year was three championship fights, I did ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, I did all my commentary duties, I took that high school wrestling job in the middle of the year. It’s just a heavy, heavy year and I just need some time to get myself back in order.”
“You think you’re better but then you’re not and when you’re not better, you’re really not better. You feel fine but when it goes out you’re on the floor crawling. It’s a weird thing.”
What makes the injury worse is the fact that it is an injury Cormier has dealt with before. Unfortunately, that may mean his back never fully healed or he reaggravated it.
“The last time I fought like that was in 2015 when I fought (Jon) Jones, I fought ‘Rumble’ (Anthony Johnson) and I fought (Alexander) Gustafsson. I didn’t fight again until the next July. I had to take nine months to try and get myself reset,” Cormier said. “Last year, I had that kind of schedule, too.”
Now, Cormier is healing up his back, where he hopes to fight soon. The next logical opponent is Brock Lesnar as Lesnar was in the cage at UFC 226, where he shoved Cormier. It set up a money fight for Cormier that he is definitely still interested in.
“Once I heal up, I can start looking forward to what’s next but right now it’s just handle these injuries. Just get better,” he said.
“I’m just waiting. I’m just waiting and when I feel better we’ll talk. Me and the UFC will talk when I get better and we’ll decide on a date and then we’ll go forward with a fight.”
