With Hand in Cast for Two Months, Daniel Cormier Faces 'Worst-Case Scenario'

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Daniel CormierDaniel Cormier knew his right hand was broken almost as soon as it connected with Antonio Silva's head, but it took a while for the pain to set in.

"It was just the adrenaline," he told MMA Fighting this week. "I was on such a high."

Maybe that explains why Cormier kept hitting Silva with his broken hand throughout the first round of their Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix semifinal bout, and why he thinks it was lucky for him that the fight ended in the first round.

As Cormier explained, "If we'd have fought 15 minutes, I'd have kept throwing that thing all 15 minutes."


It was only when the Strikeforce heavyweight and former Olympic wrestler woke up on Sunday morning that the pain really set in. Then he knew it was almost certainly broken, and a trip to the doctor back home confirmed his suspicion.

On Friday, Cormier's hand goes into a cast for the next six to eight weeks. During that time he plans to work on improving his kicks and his cardio, he said, but even when the cast comes off he doesn't know how long it will be before he's able to "start punching" and get back into full training and sparring mode.

It's a difficult situation, since he doesn't want to rush it and end up re-injuring himself. Then again, he knows Strikeforce wants to wrap up the Grand Prix in the first quarter of 2012, which means he needs to be ready to fight fellow finalist Josh Barnett by then or else risk being replaced.

"This is terrible for me, man," Cormier said. "This is worst-case scenario. With when they want the fight to happen, and me being the kind of guy who wants to deliver those type of fights, to have an injury like this. The thing that makes it so difficult is, I think Josh is so good. I need to have a ten-week training camp to prepare for that fight, so this is worst-case scenario for me."

As Cormier sat at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night, listening to Strikeforce's Scott Coker saying that the organization "would consider another fight" if Cormier wasn't available in time for the finals, he wasn't terribly shocked, he said.

"I guess I was thinking that the show has to go on. I really do want to be a part of it. It means a lot to me, knowing I got this opportunity, and I saw that [Grand Prix] belt and I instantly wanted that belt. I want to be one of the champions in Strikeforce, because that's where I started. It's where I had my first fight. ...But I can't act that surprised, because I got my opportunity [to join the Grand Prix] for the same exact reason."

The last time Cormier had an injury this serious was when he broke his arm wrestling in 2002. That healed faster than doctors expected, he said, so he's "just hoping I have something in me that makes me heal fast so I can start training, and get the type of training camp I need to fight Josh."

Cormier's big concern is not just that he won't be ready in time, he said. While Strikeforce hasn't announced a date for the Grand Prix finals yet, he should be out his cast by mid-November and could be ready to start sparring at least by early 2012, if not sooner. But will that leave him enough time to get a full training camp in before he fights Barnett? And if not, what then?

"Everybody always tells me that I made big improvements from fight to fight to fight," Cormier said. "Well, if I'm injured for two months, what if I don't make that much of an improvement from my last fight to the fight with Josh? That's why I say it's worst-case. This is the fight where I have to make the most improvement just to be where I need to be to beat the guy."

As Cormier sees it, "I have to win this fight."

And yet, with his right hand in a cast for the next six to eight weeks, there isn't a whole lot he can do at the moment to move himself closer to that goal. Maybe the best he can do now is wait and hope.

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/09/16/with-hand-in-cast-for-two-months-daniel-cormier-faces-worst-ca/

Matt Hughes Matt Hume Mark Hunt Brad Imes

Watch today's UFC Fight Night 25 weigh-ins live on MMAjunkie.com at 5:30 p.m. ET

NEW ORLEANS - UFC Fight Night 25 fighter weigh-ins take place today, and you can catch a live video stream of the proceedings here on MMAjunkie.com.

Today's weigh-ins take place at New Orleans' Spanish Plaza, and the first fighter hits the scale at 6:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. CT local time). A special Q&A session with UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione begins at 5:15 p.m. ET.

In addition to the video stream, you can get live weigh-in updates in our text-only results post on the MMAjunkie.com homepage.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/-SrfSNz4mtM/watch-todays-ufc-fight-night-25-weigh-ins-live-on-mmajunkie-com-at-530-p-m-et.mma

Takashi Sugiura Jung Chan Sung Minoru Suzuki Tim Sylvia

Barnett Banks $150,000 at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov

<B>By MATT MOLGAARD<BR> MMANEWS.COM Staff Writer</B><BR><BR> For those who still believe you absolutely must fight inside the UFC?s octagon to earn a reasonable paycheck, Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov acts as an awakening slap in the face.<BR><BR> The evening?s participants earned respectable funds for their efforts, and while some will cite Zuffa?s control over the company as reasoning for admirable pay, the fact remains: this was a non-UFC card that dished out a total $942,000 in payroll. Those are impressive numbers, to say the least.<BR><BR> Tournament favorite Josh Barnett led the financial pack, picking up a $150,000 paycheck, while fellow finalist, Daniel Cormier pocketed $100,000.<BR><BR> Check out the full disclosed payroll for Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov below.<BR><BR> Josh Barnett: $150,000 (no win bonus)<BR> def. Sergei Kharitonov: $100,000<BR><BR> Daniel Cormier: $100,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus)<BR> def. Antonio Silva: $100,000<BR><BR> Luke Rockhold: $50,000 (includes $25,000 win bonus)<BR> def. Ronaldo Souza: $70,000<BR><BR> Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal: $85,000 (no win bonus)<BR> def. Roger Gracie: $80,000<BR><BR> Pat Healy: $17,500 (includes $5,000 win bonus)<BR> def. Maximo Blanco: $13,000<BR><BR> Mike Kyle: $44,000 (includes $22,000 win bonus)<BR> def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima: $5,000<BR><BR> Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante: $60,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus)<BR> def. Yoel Romero: $10,000<BR><BR> Jordan Mein: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)<BR> def. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos: $20,000<BR><BR> Alexis Davis: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)<BR> def. Amanda Nunes: $7,500<BR><BR> Dominique Steele: $5,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)<BR> def. Chris Mierzwiak: $3,000<BR><BR> Leave your feedback on this article by posting a comment directly below! You can also chat about the card in the MMANEWS.COM Forums and/or the MMANEWS.COM Facebook. If that wasn't enough, MMANEWS.COM is now on Twitter as well @mmanewsdotcom.<BR><BR>

Source: http://www.mmanews.com/home.php

Ray Cooper  Kit Cope  Wesley Cabbage Correira  Patrick The Predator Côté 

Rampage Jackson Wants His UFC/PRIDE Unified Light Heavyweight Belt Back

The belt that I lost to Forrest Griffin, even though I should have got the decision after knocking his ass down in that fight? The belt Forrest lost to Rashad Evans? The one Rashad lost to Lyoto Machida? The one Machida lost when Maurico ?Shogun? Rua beat him? The one Jon Jones took from the [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmaconvert/~3/rp4RTvcI4io/

Shane Carwin Brock Lesnar Frank Shamrock Tito Ortiz

We know there?s at least one Diaz fan left; White gives him Penn fight at UFC 137

Just when you thought everyone was steaming mad at Nick Diaz, Dana White pulled off a shocker by re-booking the quirky fighter for another fight at UFC 137 against B.J. Penn.

Thursday evening, White announced the move via Twitter. This was less than 24 hours after he dropped Diaz from the main event title fight against Georges St-Pierre.

When it comes down it, White is willing to deal with all of  Diaz's drama to simply satisfy fight fans. Are you any less excited for the Diaz-Penn versus Diaz-GSP? That's been a dream fight for many fans, for years. White could've easily banished Diaz to the MMA minor leagues for life, but the recognizes the guy is a great fighter with some serious psychological issues.

The door opened for Diaz when a Penn-Jon Fitch rematch couldn't be made. Penn ripped Fitch on Twitter and said he had enough of waiting for Fitch to commit. Twitter is hilarious though. Penn went from nasty to nice in 42 minutes when he was offered the Diaz fight.

Why did Diaz get another chance? White spoke to him and got a basic understanding of what was going through his head when he missed two prefight conferences and missed three flights.

"To tell you the truth, the excuses he gave me made no sense," White told Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole. "You've interviewed Nick Diaz before. You know what I'm talking about. But I started thinking about this: This kid is a real fighter and I love the B.J. Penn-Nick Diaz fight. He always does show up to fight. We have trouble with him doing p.r. We also sometimes have problems with [his brother] Nate, whom I have a great relationship with, in getting him to do his p.r."

"What basically happened is, Nick freaked out. He disappeared. He told me he couldn't handle the pressure of the main event. It wasn't that he couldn't fight it or wouldn't have fought it, but all the responsibilities that come with fighting in the main event, he said he couldn't deal with that. The fighting part is the easy part to him."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/We-know-there-s-at-least-one-Diaz-fan-left-Whit?urn=mma-wp6716

Javier Torres Tor Troeng Nobuhiko Takada Yoshihiro Takayama

Bellator 49 ratings: Event draws 235,000 MTV2 viewers, ranks fourth all-time

This past weekend's Bellator 49 event on MTV2, which kicked off the organization's fifth season, drew 235,000 viewers, MTV officials today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com.

Of the 15 MTV2-televised Bellator events to date, Bellator 49 ranked fourth all-time in ratings history.

Bellator 49 took place this past Saturday, Sept. 10, at New Jersey's Caesars Atlantic City and kicked off the organization's season-five welterweight tournament.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mmajunkie/~3/DVYpT7SnfMI/bellator-49-ratings-event-draws-235000-mtv2-viewers-ranks-fourth-all-time.mma

Noboru Asahi Marcus Aurelio  Mikhail Avetisyan Luiz AzeredoÂ