Daniel Cormier breaks his silence: ‘It might mean too much’

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier has not been heard from much since losing the belt to Jon Jones at UFC 214. Cormier was controversially interviewed in the Octagon by Joe Rogan and released a short statement on social media after the loss. However, on Monday, Cormier joined Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and gave his first interview since UFC 214 and opened up on how he was feeling.

“Ah man you know, still pretty bummed out,” Cormier said when asked how he was handling things presently, a little over two weeks since the loss. “You know, it’s a tough pill to swallow.”

“You gotta remember that I’m a guy that wants to be the best. I train hard. I work hard. I feel like I was ready to go. I feel like I was prepared and I was very disappointed in the result of the fight. But, as I look back on it, I was upset but I think a lot of the sadness came from, I feel like my coaches, I felt like they had done such a tremendous job preparing me for this particular event and for me to not be able to get the job done, that’s where I think a lot of my sadness came from. Obviously, I was disappointed with the fight but I felt bad for the people closest to me because I felt they had invested so much and had done so much to prepare me and I was ready to go.”

Daniel Cormier was asked by Helwani if he had prepared himself mentally at any moment leading up to the fight if things didn’t go his way.

“I can’t really say it hurt more than I thought it would,” said Cormier. “I knew that if it didn’t work out it would be very disappointing. You know, in the build up I didn’t really think about if it didn’t go that way. I was preparing to win. I think if you start allowing that doubt to creep into your mind, it becomes a reality. So for 12 weeks, my reality was that I was going to get my hand raised.

“Me being disappointed and sad, it just shows that it means a lot, you know? It might mean too much. I guess we as athletes need to better separate those things but for me, it’s not like that. I’m a guy that really does commit myself one hundred percent to a goal and when I didn’t get it done, you see the emotion, you know? Honestly.”

Daniel Cormier was then asked if he has watched any tape of the fight and how things played out and DC said that he has not.

“From what everybody tells me, I think watching the fight would probably do more harm than good because they (friends and team) were saying that we were fighting pretty even up until the kick and I think it would maybe disappoint me and I’m not sure I’m ready for that emotionally to watch that. Especially if they are telling me the truth in regards to how the fight was going. And, it was such a simple mistake and I think that’s why it – it sucks.”

on 8/14/2017.