Daniel Cormier expected out of training for four to six weeks, apologizes for withdrawal from UFC 197

Daniel Cormier will be out from four to six weeks with a leg injury, and in his first comments after pulling out of UFC 197, the current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion apologized for missing this month’s pay-per-view event.

The decision to not fight on April 23rd was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make. I’ve been scheduled to fight 18 times and I have made that walk every time. I want to apologize to Jon Jones, Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White and all of the UFC fans for not being able to defend my title. This truly saddens me, but as with everything else in life, it goes on. The recovery should not take very long and I can’t wait to compete and defend my title again. For all the fans, thanks for your support, I appreciate each and every one of you. DC

A photo posted by Daniel “DC” Cormier (@dc_mma) on Apr 2, 2016 at 3:19pm PDT

Cormier was slated to face Jon Jones on that card, the only man to ever defeat him in MMA. With Cormier out injured, Jones will instead now meet Ovince St. Preux in an Interim Title fight on the April 23 card.

Penick’s Analysis: Obviously the injury was too great to come back from in that short of a time, because as he notes he’s never pulled out of a fight before. On top of that, he’s wanted this rematch with Jones and the opportunity to avenge his sole loss. It’s got to be killing him to be out of this event, but should Jones dispatch of St. Preux as expected, Cormier will get his shot again this summer.

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