Daniel Cormier Defends His Record: I Only Lost To The Champion
Former UFC light-heavyweight title contender Daniel Cormier will get another crack at becoming a champion at UFC 187. The super-stacked card was wounded by the loss of former champion Jon Jones, as he got caught up in a whirlwind of controversy surrounding his alleged felony hit-and-run.
Anthony Johnson will stand opposite DC on May 23rd, in what is proving to be a bit of a toss up. With an interesting contrast between their styles, “Rumble” and Cormier are proving quite hard to pick. Another opinion is that DC should have had to fight again before getting his shot, a notion that he finds unbelievable.
Check out what the Strikeforce GP winner told MMAFighting.com tonight:
“I’m walking into a fight with Anthony Johnson and I’m going to get destroyed by him?” Cormier said. “It makes absolutely no sense to me. You know what, it’s a testament to what Anthony has done, but its also very disrespectful in the fact that, I’ve lost one time … the last time, when I lost rounds to Jones was the first time I’ve lost rounds in a fight. And now this guy that has actually recommitted himself to the sport. This guy that has done things that no one expected him to do is going to just walk through me. That makes no sense. I’m telling you right now I don’t buy it. I don’t believe it. “
Cormier was undoubtedly the most credited challenge during the Jones era, his record spoke for itself as did his Olympic background. Now facing a different kind of beast altogether, there is now the chance that DC finds his way to that elusive title. He continued:
“The truth of the matter is, I won 15 straight fights, got to the top of the sport,” Cormier (15-1) said. “I fought for the UFC championship against the No. 1 pound for pound fighter in the world. Most guys lose early, most guys lose in the middle, most guys lose, even though its years before, they have hiccups. I never had that hiccup. I made it to the top of this sport before actually suffering my first loss, to the pound for pound No. 1 guy in the world. And somehow I’ve gone from this guy who, they thought I could beat the No 1 pound-for-pound guy in the world, to a complete scrub.”
“I don’t think he’s overrated, not one bit,” Cormier said of Johnson. “I think he deserves the credit he’s gotten … it’s not like I’m lying. I’m only stating facts, Rumble Johnson has smashed everyone over course of nine fights. He beat Phil Davis every second of every round, he beat Andrei Arlovski every second of every round, actually Arlovski won a round when he didn’t finish him. But when he didn’t knock those guys out, he was still cruising. He hasn’t really been dealt that adversity he received at welterweight. So for me it’s a matter of seeing how does he deal with adversity now that he’s with that monster. People have made him out to be King Kong and Godzilla all at once, and he’s not like that.”
With Jon Jones sidelined for an unknown period, the light-heavyweight division gets a new lease of life. “”Bones” had an iron grip on the weight class, merely knocked by guys like Alexander Gustafsson and nearly tapped by Vitor Belfort.
With Daniel Cormier taking on Anthony Johnson, anything could happen. In a way, there is something refreshing about seeing two different fighters compete for Jones’ belt, while being saddening all the same. Do you think DC deserves the shot, or should the UFC have given it to someone else?
