Daniel Cormier wants it to be known that there’s no beef between himself and UFC light heavyweight contender Phil Hawes.
The former champion of two divisions and Hawes had a heated moment at UFC Austin after Hawes’ impressive victory over Deron Winn. The two were caught on camera and the cause of the heated exchange was not immediately clear. However, speculations quickly emerged online that the incident was caused by Winn and Cormier’s close friendship.
Hawes later than that evening apologized to Cormier and is now sharing his account, which includes the reason for the altercation.
“Fight ends, I get up to go do the interview,” Cormier said via YouTube. “As soon the fight is over, I push the cough button and drop my head set. I then walk toward the ring and can hear Phil shouting at [commentators Dominick Cruz and Brendan Fitzgerald],, ‘Where’s DC! Where’s DC?’ while I was walking into the octagon. I step into the octagon and Phil is doing something that we call in Louisiana, ‘Booting up.’ This dude’s booting up on me. Phil says, “What’s the matter, man?” It was like this: “What’s the matter?” And I thought, “What’s going on?” I’m being pounded by him. Phil is asking me, “Me?” Phil is telling me I chose the wrong opponent. Well, if you want to know where that stems from, here it is. I’ll tell you exactly what it stems from.
“When I was in Abu Dhabi, before [when] Phil was managed by this guy named Daniel Rubenstein, he asked me to sit with Phil at Fight Island. Phil and I sat with his advisor, a guy that he’s very close to and we talked and we spoke and then we talked about Phil coming out to AKA to train with me. What happened next was the UFC called and asked for Deron Winn to fight Phil Hawes.”
Cormier said that he immediately doubted the wisdom of this matchup. He didn’t like the wrestling vs. wrestling clash on paper, and didn’t think it was a good match for Winn. Hawes and Winn had also seen two previous bookings fall through, so Cormier was ready for his protege to move on to a different opponent.
Somehow, this discussion made its way to Hawes’ camp and the fast-rising light heavyweight took it as a personal slight.
“I said ‘no’ to the fight,” Cormier said. I didn’t believe it was a great matchup and look at how things turned out. It’s not like I was wrong in my thought in regards to the matchup. So Phil is saying I picked the wrong opponent. Phil says, “Do you believe I choose fights?” Do you think I make the fights?’ I go, ‘Phil, that’s ridiculous. My friend, I do not make the fights. Respect others. Respect .’
“Phil is a great man and he instantly gets it. Phil isn’t a bad person, but that’s the thing people don’t get. For last weekend, Phil Hawes is someone I have no hatred for. He’s high on adrenaline, he had the best performance of his entire career. It’s like King Kong. He’s high on adrenaline, and he seems great. The reality is I didn’t do that.”
While Cormier was happy that things were quickly resolved, he admitted that Hawes got under his skin at times. Cormier felt so upset by this exchange because he believed that when top fighters beat an associate, it feels like they have indirectly hit the elite fighter.
Cormier doesn’t think that this is the case. It took him some time to calm down and check his beliefs.
” I think a lot o men deal with this,” Cormier stated. “Myself, Khabib Nurmagomedov. The moment somebody beats one of those guys [Nurmagomedov is associated with], they’re going to feel like they beat Khabib. People feel superior to me when they beat my son in wrestling. Phil told me that they didn’t beat them. Phil didn’t beat them, and that’s exactly what I said to Phil.
“Still, I am a bit annoyed. Because I’m like, ‘Wow, what is going on here?’ I’m from Louisiana and I’m a fighter and you cannot turn that off. Phil immediately realizes that he might be wrong, and he defends himself. The rest of his team is rushing to him and saying, “DC, it’s all fine,” because he has just become a bit too much. Everyone came up to me and shaked mine hand. Then we return and do our interview. Two professional doing what was expected .”
If anything, Cormier is glad that he and Hawes had their run-in and that they were able to handle it professionally without further incident. Cormier hopes that Hawes will grow as much from this experience than he did from other confrontations throughout his career in combat sports.
Cormier pointed out that Hawes sent a text apology to him and said that they are still free to train together.
“I have nothing but respect for him and if he fights in the manner that he fought on Saturday, this kid has all the potential in the world to be a world champion,” Cormier said. That is Phil Hawes’s worth. If he continues to fight like he did last Saturday, I believe he could be world champion. That .”
is he?
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