Dana White Says Daniel Cormier Will Fight At ‘UFC 200’ — Who Will Step Up On Short Notice?
It was announced on Wednesday night that the current interim UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones was being pulled from UFC 200 due to a potential USADA violation. While Jones said this morning that he didn’t knowingly take any PEDs leading up to his fight with Daniel Cormier, he won’t be put back on the card.
As a result, UFC president Dana White has announced that the show’s new main-event will be Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt. On top of that, White said that Daniel Cormier will fight this coming Saturday night.
Trying to find someone to step up and fight on just two days notice is not an easy task. However, a couple of guys have thrown their name into the hat, including current UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping, who just arrived in Las Vegas today, which is the site of UFC 200.
Ok for the record. I WILL fight DC. I love him, but if the @ufc need me, I'm in! @danawhite @lorenzofertitta
— michael (@bisping) July 7, 2016
Dana White pretty much killed any hope of a Daniel Cormier vs. Michael Bisping fight this weekend, saying that the new UFC Middleweight Champ is in no condition to fight on just two days notice.
“Bisping just won the 185-pound title, 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.”
Of all the guys who have volunteered to fight Cormier this weekend, Bisping is by far the biggest name. A Champion vs. Champion match would intrigue a lot of people, especially if it was for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, because Bisping would have a chance to become the company’s first ever double champion.
Bisping is coming off of a win over DC’s American Kickboxing Academy teammate Luke Rockhold, where he entered the fight with just a few days notice, and he ended up knocking Rockhold out in the very first round to become the new Middleweight Champion. If Bisping were to fight Cormier and defeat him for the Light Heavyweight Championship, it’d be quite the story. But sadly, it doesn’t look like the UFC is going in that direction.
The more likely opponent for Cormier is UFC middleweight contender Gegard Mousasi, who, like Bisping, volunteered to replace Jon Jones via Twitter. Mousasi already has a fight on UFC 200’s undercard against Thiago Santos, so he’s already in fighting shape. If he ends up being Cormier’s opponent, the UFC will likely just cancel his original fight, which would mean that Santos will be left off the card.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Cormier said that he’d be willing to fight someone on short notice as long as they weren’t coming into the fight above 225 pounds. DC is currently in the process of cutting down to 205 pounds, which is why he doesn’t want to fight someone who is a true heavyweight.
Most expected that the UFC would find another opponent for Cormier, because if they didn’t, he would be losing out on a lot of money. That would be unfair because it was Jon Jones’ fault that the fight ended up getting canceled.
Another guy who has volunteered to fight Cormier is UFC veteran “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, who is a Las Vegas native. Lawlor is coming off a controversial unanimous decision loss to Corey Anderson, and before that, he knocked out Gian Villante. Lawlor fought on the UFC 100 card, where he won the submission of the night bonus, and he was campaigning to get on the UFC 200 card prior to the event, but he was never booked for the show.
Hey @danawhite if you need someone, give me a shot
— tommy filth (@FilthyTomLawlor) July 7, 2016
[Photo by Jeff Chiu/AP Images]
