Whatever happened to Daniel Cormier's knee surgery? UFC 178 headliner explains

Newly minted light heavyweight title contender Daniel Cormier is feeling like a new man now that he’s fighting champ Jon Jones for the belt.

Despite previously announcing a pair of knee injuries that would prompt surgery, Cormier (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) said he is 100 percent ready to fight Jones (20-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) at UFC 178 on Sept. 27 in Las Vegas.

“I was supposed to meet with doctor this past Wednesday to discuss a date where we could either do the surgery or go forward without it,” he told MMAjunkie Radio on Thursday. “I was going to tell him, ‘Now that my LCL is better, I don’t feel as though I need surgery. Maybe we can do something else. Some alternative stuff.’ But I didn’t go because I was in Los Angeles for the show. Thank goodness I didn’t go into that appointment, because I didn’t want to have the surgery. What if he would have advised me to? You know doctors always like to play it safe.

“I feel fine, boys. I realize now that my LCL is what was bothering me, and the only thing you can do for that is time. Well, with time, it has healed, and my knee feels completely strong. I sparred yesterday, I did jiu-jitsu, and I ran. I’m fine. I feel pretty sore, I’ll be honest with you. Too much time behind the desk, and not enough time in the gym.”

Cormier’s gym schedule is about to get busy in preparation for his meeting with Jones, which comes after a knee injury scrapped Alexander Gustafsson from the September pay-per-view headliner. His LCL isn’t the only concern, however. This past month, an MRI revealed his right ACL is 50 percent torn after years of wear and tear.

Cormier initially held off on surgery after a dominant win over Dan Henderson in a May light heavyweight fight, and there was speculation he might get the title nod over Gustafsson.

Following a contract renegotiation with the UFC, Jones put that to rest when he agreed to a rematch with the Swedish standout. Cormier then said he would undergo surgery to correct his injuries after competing in a wrestling match earlier this month as part of the UFC’s “International Fight Week.” Then, the title picture changed, and the UFC asked him to fight Jones.

Inside the cage, it’s all but guaranteed the champ will attack Cormier’s knees, as he does with all opponents, with several types of kicks. As an orthodox-stanced fighter, Cormier’s right knee is his rear leg, so it could be harder to hit, and yet it’s also the leg from which he initiates certain types of takedown attempts.

Thus far, the undefeated Cormier’s Olympic wrestling pedigree has helped him dominate opponents when they hit the mat. In his light heavyweight debut in May, he manhandled Henderson en route to a unanimous decision. With or without healthy knees, he hasn’t been slowed inside the cage.

And for a title shot against a rival such as Jones, it seems Cormier will fight through just about anything.

“Am I ready? I’m 100 percent ready, and when I get into the cage, you’ll see it,” he said. “I’m going in there to compete against Jon Jones. Everything else that happened outside of the cage, him and I having our issues, that means nothing to me any more. I’m going in there to win a championship.

“Do I like Jon Jones personally? Not very much. Do I respect Jon Jones personally and competitively? Yeah. Jon has a great family. I see his parents at his fights, and I love that, because in his family, I see my family, how my parents are so supportive of me. I love that he has a great family in terms of his children. I like a lot of things about Jon Jones. The one thing I don’t like is we just can’t seem to mix. Sometimes two people don’t mix, but I respect him, and I’m going out there to defeat him.”

As challenges go, it’s a tough ask to beat Jones, who attempts his eighth title defense against Cormier when they meet at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. So far, no one in the light heavyweight division has been able to counter the champ’s reach and unpredictability both in striking and grappling. Jones already is a 2-to-1 favorite to retain his belt.

That’s not the gap seen for previous challengers, and so it appears that early wagers give Cormier a far better chance of winning. That’s a nice nod, but Cormier’s goal is already set.

“I want to win this fight dominantly,” he said. “I want to walk away without leaving any doubt. I want it to be like (T.J.) Dillashaw-(Renan) Barao. I want it to be like Chris Weidman beating Anderson Silva. All these long-reigning champions that people thought were unbeatable, that time has come and gone.

“I’d like to stop him, and if I don’t finish this fight, I want to dominate in a way that nobody is thinking, ‘Maybe he had a bad night,’ or ‘Maybe Jon Jones is still the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.’ I want people to say, ‘He’s pretty good, but we know there’s one guy in the division that’s better.’”

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