Details continue to surface regarding UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier’s status for this Saturday’s landmark UFC 200 pay-per-view event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
On Wednesday evening, UFC President Dana White held an impromptu press conference to announce that Jon Jones had been pulled from the fight due to testing positive for a yet-to-be-announced banned substance in an out-of-competition USADA drug test.
It was also at that press conference that White announced that Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt would officially moving up to the main event slot, which many took to mean Cormier was off the show as well.
On Thursday, White appeared on “The Herd” on FS1 and revealed that D.C. would, in fact, still be competing inside the Octagon at this Saturday’s pay-per-view in Las Vegas, Nevada.
While Cormier’s new opponent has yet to be announced, as we reported earlier, several fighters have made it clear to UFC management that they would be more than willing to step up on two days notice to fight Cormier at 205 pounds, with some even offering to fight a five-round fight.
Among the names we can confirm that have offered up their services for the short-notice D.C. fight includes UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping, as well as UFC contenders Gegard Mousasi, Ilir Latifi, Zack Cummings and “Filthy” Tom Lawlor.
“There’s tons of guys that are interested,” White said during his appearance on The Herd on Thursday afternoon. “We’ll get a fight done.”
While no announcement has been made, one name that can apparently be removed from the list is the one that is most appealing on paper, as White didn’t seem interested at all in sacrificing his new 185-pound champion for a quick fix on a card that is stacked top-to-bottom regardless of whether or not there is three title fights on the pay-per-view card, or two.
“Bisping just won the 185-pound title,” White said. “And, let me tell you what Bisping does in his offseason. When Bisping is not training, Bisping goes on a bender. He’s in no condition to fight Daniel Cormier, I’ll tell you that.”
As far as when the announcement will be made regarding Cormier’s new UFC 200 opponent, White noted that he hopes to have the deal finalized and announced by the end of today.
UFC 200 is scheduled to take place this Saturday, July 9, 2016 from the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Join us here at MMANews.com on Saturday for live coverage of the UFC 200 pay-per-view!