Daniel Cormier would love a shot at UFC gold but for now his future is with Strikeforce
Strikeforce heavyweight grand-prix winner, Daniel Cormier has been giving his thoughts on his immediate future following the biggest win of his career last month when he captured his first major title, explaining he would love a crack at the UFC title but for now his future lies with the California based promotion.
Speaking via MMAWeekly.com, Cormier said:
“In a perfect world, I would love that fight. I mean who doesn’t want to fight for the most prestigious belt in mixed martial arts? But right now my loyalties are to Scott Coker and the people at Strikeforce and Showtime. They’ve taken care of me for two and a half years, and treated me well. It was determined before that I would have another fight. My loyalties are there right now because that’s where I fight. If and when I do go over to the UFC, then I’ll address all that other stuff. Whoever I beat after this fight with Josh Barnett and it’s time to come over, you have to look at my resume and look at a heavyweight that has those quality wins in a row and say does this guy deserve to have a shot over him?”
Cormier also gave an update on his physical condition after badly damaging his hand during his most recent fight with Josh Barnett.
“I have surgery on Monday and then Tuesday/Wednesday I can actually get back on my cardio and running, and then on the following Monday I can actually start doing everything else. I mean I can grapple, I can wrestle, I just can’t punch. I’ll hopefully be able to stay in some decent shape, not get as big as I was between this fight and the last fight and then I’m looking at about 6 to 8 weeks of actual recovery time before I can start punching. If that’s the case, I’m hoping to fight in 3 ½ to 4 months.”
Cormier will now likely have one more fight under the Strikeforce banner against a mystery opponent before making the switch to the UFC early next year where he’ll no doubt be trust into the upper echelons of the title picture inside the octagon. Stay tuned to MMABay for what’s next in the career of the AKA trained fighter as we get it.
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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Photo by Esther Lin – STRIKEFORCE
