These kinds of stories are hard to hear, but also a very real part of the sport…
Watching UFC 214 was great fun, but the blockbuster pay-per-view event ending up pulling heart strings. Featured in the top was then-reigning light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier against his fierce rival Jon Jones.
Fans knew the main event would be an emotionally charged war, but what transpired was tough to watch. Fighting in a typically gritty and evenly matched battle, ‘DC’ and ‘Bones’ put their all into it.
Unfortunately for Cormier, he got rocked and finished after being hit with a big head kick to the temple. But it was far from over for the now-ex champion.
Lost Time
Emotionally drawn and shattered, Cormier shed tears during the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. Although he’d said in the past interviewing KO’d fighters was a bad idea, this moment provided a raw glimpse into the reality of MMA.
Speaking during an appearance on The MMA Hour, Cormier says he is still missing segments of time from UFC 214.
“I don’t hold any ill will towards [Rogan],” Cormier said. “I think he was doing his job. I don’t hold any ill will towards John McCarthy either. John McCarthy gave me plenty of opportunities to stay in this fight. I couldn’t. The Joe Rogan interview, I don’t even know what happened. I still haven’t seen it, and honestly — man, I’ll be honest with you, I’m still missing time. Like, I don’t remember any of that.
“I don’t remember leaving the Octagon. Some of these photos where I was crying and I was hugging Bob (Cook), I don’t remember any of that. I remember being in the back — I feel like I came out of a fog.”
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“Like, I remember when I was in the back, they said ‘you have to go to the hospital.’ I’m like, for what? I just am still missing time. I’m missing probably, I don’t know, 10 minutes. I talked to Dana (White) and I said, ‘I’m sorry if I pushed you,’ because I remember they said I pushed somebody.”
“I do the TV stuff, so obviously I’ve got friends in TV, and they said that as they were watching in the Octagon, they could hear the microphone on Bob Cook, and I was asking questions, asking what happened, asking why Dana yelled at me,” Cormier continued. “Then they said I was there and I was kinda tearing up, then they said that I looked up at the replay and that’s when I really broke down, because I guess I saw what happened. But I still, I don’t recall that. But again, tears and sadness mean that it means something to you, and I would do the same thing again.”
