Daniel Cormier Rules Out Possible Return To Heavyweight
Daniel Cormier will be defending his UFC light heavyweight championship this Saturday at UFC 192 against Alexander Gustafsson. When asked by the media on Monday evening if there’s a chance that he would go back up to heavyweight, “DC” quickly shot them down.
“When I made that decision, I was fine fighting guys those size,” Cormier said recently. “Now I’m not fine with it, I’m fighting in this division against guys who are more my size. When I grab these dudes, compared to the other guys, the difference is unbelievable. It’s unbelievable how much smaller they are.”
Some would have thought that Cormier would move back up to his old weight class after the USADA-mandated ban on post-fight IV rehydration was issued.
Cormier says he’s not phased by the move to the IV ban because he competed under that ban while competing in amateur wrestling.
“My biggest concern with this is, early, guys will try to go around it, and they’ll get in trouble,” said Cormier. “This is what I think. From personal experience with guys in wrestling, they’ll go around it, and they’ll get in trouble. When USADA came on board, these guys have no idea what they’re getting into. This is a whole different level. If you have been doing things, and you think you’re going to continue to get away with it with USADA on board, you’re in trouble.”
When pressed about it, Cormier revealed that the reason that he does not want to move up weight classes is because he was scared of the heavyweights that were always bigger than Cormier when he was fighting in that division.
“I’m scared of Josh Barnett,” Cormier said. “I’m scared of every one of them. I walk past them, and I’m like, ‘that dude is huge.’ Andrei Arlovski is massive. What in the world would I have done if I had to fight him? He’s thick, big, and tall. I’ve trained with him. I’m looking at him and going, dude, did I shrink or are these dudes that much bigger than me?”
UFC 192 takes place this Saturday, October 3rd, 2015 at Houston’s Toyota Center.
