UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier had been planning to have one more fight before retiring prior to his 40th birthday in March, but injury woes have led him to change his mind.
“I f—ked my back up at UFC 230,” Cormier told MMAWeekly. “It hasn’t recovered as fast as I hoped it would.
“I have to take some time off. I had to take some time to try and make myself healthy because my schedule was so heavy last year. Three fights, three five round training camps, very heavy training camps. Last year was three championship fights, I did ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, I did all my commentary duties, I took that high school wrestling job in the middle of the year. It’s just a heavy, heavy year and I just need some time to get myself back in order.”
The good news is that it doesn’t seem as if DC’s back issue will require surgery, but there’s no definite timeline as to how long it’s going to take.
“You think you’re better but then you’re not and when you’re not better, you’re really not better. You feel fine but when it goes out you’re on the floor crawling. It’s a weird thing.”
When he does return there won’t be a shortage of options for Cormier, who had been looking to fight Brock Lesnar and also has the possibility of major fights with the likes of his old rival Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic to name but a few.
For now though it’s just a waiting game.
“Once I heal up, I can start looking forward to what’s next but right now it’s just handle these injuries. Just get better.”
“I’m just waiting. I’m just waiting and when I feel better we’ll talk. Me and the UFC will talk when I get better and we’ll decide on a date and then we’ll go forward with a fight.”
