Win or lose, current UFC heavyweight fighter Daniel Cormier has confirmed that he will be moving down to the light-heavyweight division after his upcoming fight with Roy Nelson.
“This is going to be my last fight at heavyweight,” Cormier stated on the latest episode of Inside MMA. “I wanted to start to diet and mover closer to the weight division where I was comfortable making the weight. I feel like I’m in that place now.”
A former Strikeforce heavyweight grand-prix winner, Cormier has been talking about a potential move down to 205lbs since he first joined the UFC earlier this year.
Until now he hadn’t officially committed to it however, taking on heavyweight bouts in the meantime – first defeating Frank Mir by unanimous decision in April, and now preparing to take on Nelson at next weekend’s UFC 166 event.
In the past when discussing a possible drop in weight class Cormier had been targeting an immediate title shot against current champion Jon Jones, but that now seems unlikely due to the way things have panned out in that division over the past few months.
Jones is currently set to fight Glover Teixeira next, most likely in March of next year, while a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson is virtually guaranteed if both fighters win their next bouts.
So, even if Cormier wins in convincing fashion against Nelson, which certainly isn’t guaranteed, there’s a good chance he’ll have to prove himself against at least one major light-heavyweight fighter before earning a shot at the belt.
It should be noted that dropping down to 205lbs will by no means be an easy feat for Cormier, even though he’s small for a heavyweight, standing just 5ft 10 inches tall.
The reason being that many years ago Cormier had to pull out of his spot wrestling in the Olympics after suffering kidney failure brought about by a tough weight cut.
The 34 year-old will be approaching his drop down to 205lbs this time around as carefully and scientifically as possible this time around though and is confident that his health won’t be compromised.
