Reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel “DC” Cormier was scheduled to defend his 205-pound strap in a rematch against Anthony Johnson at Dec. 10’s UFC 206 from Toronto, Canada, but he was recently forced to withdraw from the bout due to an injury. Cormier revealed on today’s (Nov. 28, 2016) edition of The MMA Hour
Reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel “DC” Cormier was scheduled to defend his 205-pound strap in a rematch against Anthony Johnson at Dec. 10’s UFC 206 from Toronto, Canada, but he was recently forced to withdraw from the bout due to an injury.
Cormier revealed on today’s (Nov. 28, 2016) edition of The MMA Hour that he suffered a torn right adductor muscle, which is located near the groin. The former Olympian now has a choice to make regarding his treatment, and he plans to return in the February or March:
“I don’t know, man,” Cormier said. “It’s a weird deal, because I always try not to have surgery. That’s kind of my thing. I do whatever I can to not go under the knife. I’ve got some decisions to make.”
Surgery would likely get Cormier back in the gym in eight weeks, while simply resting would likely put him out of action for five months. “DC” could also elect to get platelet-rich plasma injections which would heal his injury faster than resting.
“I told [the doctor] I would like the fastest way back to the Octagon,” Cormier said.
While his decision hasn’t been made just yet, Cormier is hoping to face off with Johnson upon his return before meeting Ryan Bader before July.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only time “DC” has suffered an injury, but the champion doesn’t plan on changing his training habits anytime soon:
“I feel if I don’t prepare in the ways I’ve always prepared in, I don’t know if I’ll be able to compete to the best of my ability,” he said. “It sucks.”
UFC 206 is now set to be headlined by an interim featherweight title fight between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis.
So for any of you paying attention this weekend, there’s been a major shake up in the featherweight division. The UFC has decided to strip Conor McGregor of the featherweight title and upgrade the interim champion Jose Aldo to full fledged undisputed champ. It wasn’t that the move by the UFC was the wrong one, but the way it was done certainly left people scratching their heads. But that’s not all that happened this weekend.
So for any of you paying attention this weekend, there’s been a major shake up in the featherweight division. The UFC has decided to strip Conor McGregor of the featherweight title and upgrade the interim champion Jose Aldo to full fledged undisputed champ. It wasn’t that the move by the UFC was the wrong one, but the way it was done certainly left people scratching their heads. But that’s not all that happened this weekend.
So before we get into the main topic of the article, there’s no way I can simply gloss over the UFC Fight Night 100 main event clash between Robert Whitaker and Derek Brunson. It was a battle between two highly touted prospects who have a bright future ahead of them at middleweight, but as of now only one man is moving forward while the other has to return to the drawing board. The latter in this equation is mister Brunson who had a peculiar performance to say the least.
Brunson has been on a high as of late, finishing many of his opponents by knock out in the first round. He tried to continue that trend against a more polished counter striker in Whitaker who remained patient, survived a barrage of punches, then clipped Brunson with a well timed left hook. There’s no way to excuse it. Brunson was sloppy. His head was far forward past his front knee, a big no no in high level striking, and eventually was reaching for Whitaker with every punch. Brunson’s display of sloppy striking makes you wonder how he was able to get this far in the rankings. Brunson certainly has the skills to go far in the UFC, but at this level of the game you have to be patient and controlled with a game plan in order to reap success.
Switching gears, the UFC stripping Conor McGregor unceremoniously on a Fight Night card was pretty peculiar. Sure, the event may have had a good number of eyes on it, but it just seems so strange to randomly say “hey, by the way, Conor McGregor is no longer the champion at featherweight, Jose Aldo is now” will only have the effect of throwing people off. Yes, UFC 206 needed a big fight to replace Daniel Cormier versus Anthony Johnson. Yes, upping the stakes with a championship level match does make things more enticing. But even a small press conference or press release would have been more professional.
Now, we can argue whether or not McGregor should have been stripped of the 145 lbs belt, but at this point it’s fair to say that the masses expect a certain level of professionalism from the biggest mixed martial arts promotion in the world. It’s shoddy work to say the least and we expect more.
Do you think the UFC handled the Conor McGregor situation well?
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
If the Ontario Athletic Commission approves, Tim Kennedy will meet Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 206 next month.
Officials announced the bout Saturday night during UFC Fight Night 1…
If the Ontario Athletic Commission approves, Tim Kennedy will meet Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 206 next month.
Officials announced the bout Saturday night during UFC Fight Night 101. The middleweight contest would be part of the main card on December 10 from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, if Gastelum is approved.
Gastelum was given a suspension by the New York Athletic Commission earlier this month after failing to weigh-in for a planned fight with Donald Cerrone. The bout was scratched and the former Ultimate Fighter winner was told he would need to move up to 185 pounds from welterweight.
Kennedy was scheduled to meet Rashad Evans at both UFC 205 and UFC 206, but the former light heavyweight champion has been deemed medically unfit to compete by both commissions.
It took the UFC a few days to put all the pieces of UFC 206 back together, but the promotion has done so once more.
During the telecast of UFC Fight Night 101 Saturday, Dan Hardy and Jo…
It took the UFC a few days to put all the pieces of UFC 206 back together, but the promotion has done so once more.
During the telecast of UFC Fight Night 101 Saturday, Dan Hardy and Jon Anik confirmed that an injury to light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has forced his exit from UFC 206 and a title defense vs. Anthony Johnson.
Cormier suffered a torn abductor tendon in his groin during training, forcing the change.
That all led to Conor McGregor relinquishing the featherweight belt, Jose Aldo becoming the champion of the division once more and a new UFC 206 main event between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis for the interim title.
Late Saturday night, the UFC sent out an official statement regarding the move to open up the featherweight division.
Conor McGregor, who never defended the unified title, relinquished the belt to Jose Aldo, who he knocked out last year for it. In doing so, Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis will now meet at UFC 206 for the interim belt, with the winner likely to face Aldo in 2017.
McGregor, meanwhile, will remain lightweight champion after his victory over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205.
Here’s the official UFC statement:
UFC announced on Saturday that world lightweight champion Conor McGregor has vacated his featherweight title and opted to keep the 155-pound title he won by defeating Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 on Nov. 12.
Interim featherweight titleholder Jose Aldo has now been elevated to undisputed champion, and following these developments, the interim UFC featherweight title will be on the line on Saturday, Dec. 10, as Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis battle for championship gold in the new main event of UFC 206.
The winner of the five-round bout, which will be held at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, will face Aldo in 2017 for the unified belt.
This bout replaces the UFC light heavyweight championship bout between Daniel Cormier and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, which was scrapped when Cormier was forced to withdraw from the rematch on Friday due to injury.
In the main event of the historic UFC 205 event in Madison Square Garden, McGregor continued to make history when he stopped Alvarez in the second round to become the first fighter to hold two UFC titles simultaneously. With his decision to vacate the crown, McGregor’s longtime rival Aldo, who bounced back from his December 2015 loss to the Irishman by defeating Frankie Edgar for the interim featherweight title at UFC 200 in July, will now await the winner of Holloway vs. Pettis as he begins his second reign atop the division he ruled for over five years.
Also announced Saturday was a middleweight match between Kelvin Gastelum and Tim Kennedy that will take place on Dec. 10 as well, pending commission approval.
Late Saturday night, the UFC sent out an official statement regarding the move to open up the featherweight division.
Conor McGregor, who never defended the unified title, relinquished the belt to Jose Aldo, who he knocked out last year for it. In doing so, Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis will now meet at UFC 206 for the interim belt, with the winner likely to face Aldo in 2017.
McGregor, meanwhile, will remain lightweight champion after his victory over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205.
Here’s the official UFC statement:
UFC announced on Saturday that world lightweight champion Conor McGregor has vacated his featherweight title and opted to keep the 155-pound title he won by defeating Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 on Nov. 12.
Interim featherweight titleholder Jose Aldo has now been elevated to undisputed champion, and following these developments, the interim UFC featherweight title will be on the line on Saturday, Dec. 10, as Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis battle for championship gold in the new main event of UFC 206.
The winner of the five-round bout, which will be held at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, will face Aldo in 2017 for the unified belt.
This bout replaces the UFC light heavyweight championship bout between Daniel Cormier and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, which was scrapped when Cormier was forced to withdraw from the rematch on Friday due to injury.
In the main event of the historic UFC 205 event in Madison Square Garden, McGregor continued to make history when he stopped Alvarez in the second round to become the first fighter to hold two UFC titles simultaneously. With his decision to vacate the crown, McGregor’s longtime rival Aldo, who bounced back from his December 2015 loss to the Irishman by defeating Frankie Edgar for the interim featherweight title at UFC 200 in July, will now await the winner of Holloway vs. Pettis as he begins his second reign atop the division he ruled for over five years.
Also announced Saturday was a middleweight match between Kelvin Gastelum and Tim Kennedy that will take place on Dec. 10 as well, pending commission approval.
And now UFC 206 has a main event. A light heavyweight title rematch between champion Cormier and top contender Anthony Johnson was scheduled to main event UFC 206, but as we previously reported, Cormier has been forced to withdraw from the event due to an injury. Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting is reporting that Max
A light heavyweight title rematch between champion Cormier and top contender Anthony Johnson was scheduled to main event UFC 206, but as we previously reported, Cormier has been forced to withdraw from the event due to an injury.
Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting is reporting that Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis for the interim featherweight title is the new main event. The UFC attempted to get Gegard Mousasi to fight Johnson at the event, but Johnson has decided to wait for Cormier to return to action.
As a result of this booking decision, Jose Aldo, who was the interim featherweight champion after beating Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision at UFC 200 in July, is now likely to become the new 145-pound champion, which also means that Conor McGregor is expected to be stripped of the featherweight title. The UFC has the right to strip McGregor of the title because he has not defended the title since UFC 194 nearly one year ago.
UFC 206 takes place in Toronto, Canada at the Air Canada Centre on Dec. 10th. The main card will air on PPV (pay-per-view) while the prelims will air on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. Here is the updated card for the event:
Interim Featherweight Title: Anthony Pettis vs. Max Holloway
Welterweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Matt Brown
Featherweight: Cub Swanson vs. Dooho Choi
Strawweight: Valerie Letourneau vs. Viviane Pereira
Flyweight: Zach Makovsky vs. Dustin Ortiz
Light Heavyweight: Misha Cirkunov vs. Nikita Krylov
