Rumor: Daniel Cormier Can Hardly Walk In California
If a recent report coming out of California ends up being anything, the anticipated rematch between light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and hated rival Jon Jones at April 23’s UFC 197 from Las Vegas could potentially be in some danger.
To be clear, this is only a rumor, and Cormier could just be feeling the effects of a recent training session, or even the lasting ones of his many lingering knee injuries from a lifetime of wrestling.
There has been nothing at all to confirm that Cormier is seriously injured or UFC 197’s main event is in jeopardy, but @TalkMMA on Twitter reported this weekend he was informed that Cormier was at a wrestling tournament in California, and the champ could hardly walk on his left leg:
I hope it’s nothing but I just received a message that Daniel Cormier was at a wrestling tourney in CA. Could barely walk on his left leg.
— #Dizz © (@TalkMMA) March 27, 2016
He also speculated that with Cormier’s home gym AKA having a long and sordid history of injuries, he wouldn’t be surprised if Cormier did pull out his rematch with Jones:
Given AKA’s history, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if DC was injured. I hope he makes it to the fight.
— #Dizz © (@TalkMMA) March 27, 2016
That’s a bit of an off-base statement, however, because even though AKA has obviously seen many of their fighters — namely Cain Velasquez and Khabib Nurmagomedov — pull out of several high-profile fights at least in part due to their so-called “Stone Age” training methods, Cormier has actually been a comparative picture of health despite fighting without an ACL in one of his knees. He fought Jones, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, and Alexander Gustafsson in succession during 2015, and that 205-pound gauntlet could most certainly be put against any light heavyweight’s single toughest year ever.
“Bones” infamously beat Cormier at UFC 182 after their original match at 2014’s UFC 178, which was fueled by the hype of their notorious Media Day brawl was forced to be rescheduled when Jones needed a minor procedure done on his knee.
MMA fans have jumped all over the rumor as expected, to which the source stated that he never said Cormier was out of UFC 197:
People, I never said DC was “out of the fight” vs Jones. I said someone messaged me and said he appeared he could barely walk on left leg.
— #Dizz © (@TalkMMA) March 27, 2016
So there could be nothing to do it, but it’s at least a concerning sign that the 37-year-old Cormier could be injured less than 4 weeks before the biggest fight of his life. If he is and it’s not too serious, the rematch could potentially be moved to July’s UFC 200, the supposedly historic card that is lacking in high-profile title fights.
And hey, it’s also a slow week in MMA news. Regardless, let’s hope the champ is fine and UFC 197 goes off without a hitch.
