Tag: Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson

UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier may have secured his second title defense with a second-round submission over Anthony Johnson in the main event of last Saturday’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, but first, he had to deal with some controversy.

That controversy came at last Friday’s early weigh-ins, where Cormier missed the division’s 205-pound title fight limit on his first attempt by weighing in at 206.2 pounds. He then returned roughly two-and-a-half minutes later to weigh in at 205 pounds, but several onlookers accused him of cheating the system with an old wrestling trick and holding onto the towel that hid his naked body while weighing in.

However, the champ insists he didn’t even know he was doing that, telling Ariel Helwani on today’s episode of ‘The MMA Hour’ that he was simply exhausted from the “hardest weight cut of his career”:

“When I got off the scale the first time, I walked away, and they didn’t cover me,” Cormier said. “So obviously, a guy thinks that he’s losing everything that he’s worked for on the scale, and we just walk back off the scale and nobody even worried about protecting me. So I was like, you know what, I’m going to hold the towel a little bit myself to make sure that I’m covered.

“Now, the reality is, I didn’t even realize I was doing that until I saw pictures, honestly. I’ve got to be completely honest with you, I didn’t even realize I was doing that. I was tired. I was very discouraged and upset because of after that had just happened, so I didn’t even realize that I was doing it.”

Cormier went on to describe issues that not only he and his team but also Johnson’s team experienced with weight management before the pivotal championship bout. The champ revealed Johnson’s coach said their fighter had worked out extensively and hardly lost an weight according to the scale, yet he ultimately came in at an odd number of 203.8 pounds, 1.2 pounds under the title fight limit.

What makes it significant is that Cormier was over by that exact amount, leading to speculation that the scale had some sort of issue involving the 1.2 pound amount. The champion made sure to let his fans (and his haters) know he wasn’t the only one with a close call at UFC 210:

“Honestly, man, my team was standing with Anthony’s team in the back and they spoke to a couple of his coaches, and they said he been working out and not losing weight,” Cormier said. “They said that ‘Rumble’ had worked out for like an hour-and-a-half and lost .8 pounds, and they were thinking, ‘this dude ain’t going to make weight either.’ Then he goes in and he’s the exact amount of weight under as I was the second time I stepped on the scale.

“So I don’t know what was happening with that scale, but yeah, they were concerned that he wasn’t going to (make it). He said it himself. He’s like, ‘man, I was in the same situation as you,’ so obviously we both had some issues with our scales, or the commission had a scale issue. I don’t know.”

The post Daniel Cormier Reveals Why He Held Towel At Controversial UFC 210 Weigh-Ins appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Anthony Johnson came up short in his awaited light heavyweight title rematch with Daniel Cormier in the main event of tonight’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, but no one was expecting what came right afterwards.

Following the second-round submission which came by rear-naked choke just like “DC’s” first win over “Rumble” at 2015’s UFC 187, Johnson shockingly revealed he was retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) after nearly 11 years in the fight game.

The announcement from an emotional “Rumble” comes as an outright shock considering Johnson had won three straight fights over Glover Teixeira, Ryan Bader, and Jimi Manuwa by demolishing knockout after his first loss to “DC,” looking like a re-motivated fighter on his way back to the title shot. But Johnson revealed he had simply tired of the grind fighting was, and had a job outside of the cage that he’d been aiming to do for quite some time:

“I gave my commitment to another job,” Johnson said. “Something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. It’s not MMA related or anything like that. It’s just time for me to move on to something else. I’m tired of getting punched by guys and rolling around on the ground with guys.”

No word has been revealed as to just what that opportunity is.

If he is indeed done fighting, Johnson will almost definitely go down as one of the most feared power punchers in the history of MMA, with his long run a unique one where he used to cut upwards of 60 pounds to make welterweight, a process that eventually got him cut after he could not make 170 pounds and then even 185 pounds for a 2012 loss to Vitor Belfort. He rebounded in lesser promotions and got another shot in the UFC, destroying current Bellator champ Phil Davis in his return at April 2014’s UFC 172 to instantly reinsert himself into the light heavyweight title picture.

“Rumble” gave his respect to both DC and former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who sat cageside. Although he may have two losses to the current champion, Johnson is still undoubtedly one of the top three light heavyweights in all of MMA, and the UFC and the sport will be sad to see him go.

Rumble on, young man, rumble on. Watch him announce his retirement courtesy of the UFC right here:

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