Daniel Cormier is willing to put off his knee surgery. But only in the case of a title fight.
Chatter about the status of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and who will get the next shot at his title has led to a speculative brush fire in the MMA world this week.
The UFC is trying to nudge Jones toward a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson. Jones has stated a preference against recycling an opponent he has already defeated and would rather face the 15-0 Cormier, the former Olympic wrestler and Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix tournament winner.
On Wednesday’s edition of UFC Tonight, MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani reported that Cormier said he’s willing to put off a planned knee surgery if it means competing for a championship.
That would include in interim title fight with Gustafsson, in case of a complete breakdown between Jones and the UFC, who are scheduled to meet on Thursday.
Gustafsson’s camp indicated to Helwani that they, too, would be open to an interim title fight with Cormier.
Cormier suffered an injury to his lateral collateral ligament just 10 days before his UFC 173 victory over Dan Henderson, an injury Cormier said nearly caused him to pull out of the fight. While Cormier recently indicated he was going to undergo surgery, he’s willing to put it off for the sake of the title fight.