Daniel Cormier Wants Title Fight Against….Shogun Rua?
Daniel Cormier obtained the biggest accomplishment of his already-decorated MMA career by winning the UFC heavyweight title via first-round knockout over Stipe Miocic in the main event of last Saturday’s (July 7, 2018) UFC 226 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The win made Cormier the fifth two-division champion in UFC history – and only the second to hold two titles at the same time – but it also set “DC” up for a lucrative megafight with Brock Lesnar after the controversial WWE champion stepped into the cage to berate the UFC heavyweight division before shoving Cormier in a scene many fans are bemoaning as the dawn of a new, ridiculous, and entertainment-focused era for the UFC.
Cormier appeared on “Ariel Helwani‘s MMA Show” today to discuss his next move, noting that he had just gotten finished getting a hand injury from his win over Miocic checked out. X-rays revealed a broken finger for the champ, but thankfully, the soon-to-retire Cormier said it wouldn’t require surgery (via ESPN’s Greg Rosenstein):
Daniel Cormier tells @arielhelwani he will not need surgery on his right hand after breaking a finger in his fight with Stipe Miocic at UFC 226. https://t.co/5ho4HlnqWz
— Greg Rosenstein (@grosenstein) July 9, 2018
So with his recovery only requiring some rest, “DC” moved on to discuss whom his next fight would be against. Surprisingly enough, Cormier noted that it may not be against Lesnar – who still has more than one hurdle to climb in terms of his USADA eligibility – but that he may cut back down to 205 pounds to defend his light heavyweight championship for some reason.
And his choice of an opponent may surprise you somewhat, as he targeted 36-year-old former champion Shogun Rua, who meets Anthony Smith at July 22’s UFC Hamburg:
"Brock Lesnar is not guaranteed to be my next fight." – Daniel Cormier to @arielhelwani.
Open to fighting Shogun Rua at light heavyweight first.
— Greg Rosenstein (@grosenstein) July 9, 2018
There’s little doubt that Shogun was one of the most exciting fighters in MMA during Pride’s heyday, and he translated that success into a UFC title win over Lyoto Machida in 2010.
But his UFC run has been characterized by extreme inconsistency, something that may not suggest a title shot against one of the sport’s pound-and-pound greats is in the cards. True, he has won three fights in a row to sit at No. 8 in the shallow light heavyweight ranks, and a win over Smith in Germany would give him a four-fight win streak, yet it would seem the winner of UFC 227’s Alexander Gustafsson vs. Volkan Oezdmir fight would be the rightful next light heavyweight challenger if “DC” does cut down again.
Cormier won’t really fight Shogun, will he? Perhaps he’s just trying to rile up former opponent Gustafsson, because a bout with Rua as one of the last two bouts of his career doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense right now.
What do you think?
