Daniel Cormier: I Was Excited For Patrick Cummins, Now I’m Going To Beat His A–

Undefeated Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier saw his huge light heavyweight debut blow up when former champion “Suga” Rashad Evans was forced to withdraw from their scheduled co-main event bout at this Saturday’s UFC 170 with a knee injury.

Although it was initially thought that the UFC was looking to reschedule Cormier vs. Evans for an April date at UFC 172, news developed that Evans was hurt worse than was initially let on. And he was, requiring surgery that will keep him on the shelf for around six months.

Cormier never stopped looked for an opponent, however, and he eventually found one in obscure undefeated challenger Patrick Cummins. A massive back-and-forth about Cormier’s days spent training wrestling with former NCAA Division I runner-up Cummins ensued.

But in Cormier’s UFC 17 pre-fight media scrum courtesy of MMA Fighting, Cormier touched on some of the other motivating factors that made him insistent on fighting in Las Vegas this weekend:

“I prepped a lot. No, I prepared hard, man; I was ready to fight. I didn’t want to waste that training camp. I spend a lot of time away from my family when I’m training, too, so I really didn’t want to waste that. I was just like, ‘You know what? I’d rather just compete now (if I have the chance to).”

“DC” will have his chance to make good on his time spent in training on Saturday, and he’s gotten a lot of motivation thanks to Cummins’ nonstop trash talk. Cormier acknowledged that Cummins has done a great job of promoting the fight, but he’s also taken his hype a bit far by making it personal. While “DC” was happy for his old acquaintance before, now he’s just ready to hand him a lopsided defeat:

“But with Patrick, it’s like when I first heard we were going to fight, I was kind of excited for him. I was like, okay, this is a guy I knew from back then, and he’s finally getting his chance in the UFC. We’re just going to go out there and compete against each other, you know, and then he started talking, and then you guys continued to put microphones in front of him, and he hasn’t stopped talking since. So now it’s not, ‘Oh, good luck for little Patrick,’ now it’s like, ‘I’m going to beat Patrick’s ass.’”

Cormier seems like he’s chomping at the bit to get in the cage with Cummins, but much has been made of his well-documented struggles to make weight as an Olympic wrestler. Cummins was quick to poke fun at this fact in a pre-fight interview, yet Cormier insists that he could make the division’s 205-pound weight limit today:

“I feel great. I mean; I can go fight today. I can make weight today, I can make weight tomorrow if I need to.”

That remains to be seen this Friday, but it looks like Cormier is beyond motivated to put this fight behind him and move on to his next challenge. That challenge most likely won’t be a title shot even if he finishes Cummins in destructive fashion. However, Cormier will undoubtedly be knocking at the door.

Will he make 205 pounds with ease and destroy an unknown who has been running his mouth with nothing to lose?

Photo: Kyle Terada for USA TODAY Sports