UFC News: Daniel Cormier threatens to put Jones-Gustafsson title fight in jeopardy
What's the story?
The reigning double-division UFC champion, Daniel Cormier, has threatened to keep his light-heavyweight belt in case of the unlikely event of an upset loss against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230. Cormier became the two-division champion after beating Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight belt, earlier in July this year.
In case you didn't know
During the early weeks of September, this year, former light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones was rendered eligible to make his UFC return before the end of the year. In a scheduled rematch against Octagon rival Alexander Gustafsson, the two look set to compete for the light-heavyweight title a second time. These two fighters will be headlining the main event at UFC 232, on December 29th, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Alexander Gustafsson and Jon Jones share a bit of a history as they have previously exchanged blows during the UFC 165 event, at Scotiabank Arena. UFC 232 will mark their second bout together, after a 5-year long wait. Daniel Cormier is the current light-heavyweight champion, but will soon be officially stripped of the belt, when Jones and Gustafsson battle it out for the gold at UFC 232.
The heart of the matter
In a recent press meet that featured the double-champ, Cormier had a few intentions to make clear. According to Cormier, he is being stripped of his light-heavyweight title since he has no immediate plans to defend his 205-pound championship belt. However, if he happens to lose the fight against Derrick Lewis, this could very well change. Cormier's plan would be to defend his title against Lewis and go on to defend his belt in a big money fight against Brock Lesnar.
This is what Daniel Cormier had to say about the prospect of keeping his light-heavyweight belt strapped around his waist:
“Because if I lose to Derrick, then who is to say I don’t go, ‘Hey, I’m gonna go defend my light heavyweight title. Now you can’t take it. Maybe that adds a whole other part to the equation. You can’t take both of my belts if I lost that one. Right? So do I really have that much to lose if I have a second one? Look at it like that.”
What's next?
Ultimately for Daniel Cormier, it seems to be all boiling down to his fight at UFC 230 against "The Black Beast", Derrick Lewis. It will be enthralling to see the two giants go at it against each other, in a much-awaited title defense match-up.
Will this fight be detrimental to the light-heavyweight belt that is lying on the line, separating Jones and Gustafsson? Leave your comments below!