IT WAS A hectic 24 hours for Daniel Cormier.
On Wednesday night, the UFC light-heavyweight champion learned that his rematch against Jon Jones — scheduled to headline tomorrow night’s UFC 200 card in Las Vegas — had been pulled after Jones was flagged for a potential anti-doping violation.
It subsequently looked like Cormier’s months of preparation had been in vain, and the news was also likely to cost the 37-year-old former Olympic wrestler a substantial chunk of cash.
However, on Thursday night the UFC confirmed that Cormier would still be part of this weekend’s bumper bill after former middleweight champion Anderson Silva stepped in on short notice to take Jones’ place.
Nevertheless, it’s a bitter pill to swallow for Cormier, who was desperate to avenge the only defeat of his MMA career so far against his biggest rival. Jones was a unanimous-decision winner against Cormier when they clashed in January 2015.
The latest instalment of UFC Embedded for this weekend’s event gives an indication as to just how much the Jones rematch means to Cormier. The episode shows the moment UFC president Dana White broke the bad news to Cormier, who was so keen for the fight to go ahead that he even offered to “sign a release” to overlook Jones’ brush with the anti-doping authorities.
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