Phil Hawes issues apology to Daniel Cormier following post-fight argument at UFC Austin: “I apologize. DC, please don’t beat me up”

Phil Hawes has apologised to Daniel Cormier following their argument after Hawes’ win over Deron Winn last weekend.

At UFC Austin on Saturday night, Phil Hawes managed to return to winning ways with a nice TKO victory against Deron Winn with the finish coming just prior to the end of the second round. The 33-year-old was coming off the back of a knockout loss to Chris Curtis and certainly rebounded in style, taking his professional mixed martial arts record to 12-3.

The most notable part of his triumph, however, came when Daniel Cormier entered the cage and Hawes teased him due to Cormier’s association with Winn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp2urWHBOec

“You picked the wrong pony,” Hawes said to Cormier. “Yeah, you dog. You know what I’m talking about. I’ll cool off and then next week you can fight me.”

“I don’t pick fights,” Cormier said. “Be respectful. You didn’t beat me. I don’t pick fights. Look at what happened. Why would I want this fight? You can do it better than that. Don’t do that.”

After the fight, Hawes used his post-fight press conference appearance to apologise to Cormier.

“It was a misunderstanding on my behalf,” Hawes told reporters. “DC is such a great role model to me. He’s a two-weight world champion and just a freaking stellar dude. So it was just a bit of miscommunication and wrong place, wrong time. I apologize. DC, please don’t beat me up.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

It seems as if this may have been a heat-of-the-moment kind of incident but either way, Phil Hawes did a pretty good job of making sure everyone remembered his name upon leaving the arena.

What did you think of Phil Hawes’ victory over Deron Winn? Do you think he should’ve reacted like that when speaking to Daniel Cormier after the bout?