Report: Daniel Cormier injured, forced out of UFC 206 headliner vs. Anthony Johnson

Just when it seemed UFC 206 was being transformed from an average card to a solid one, the promotion’s final Canada show for 2016 reportedly has lost its scheduled headliner.

MMAFighting.com is reporting UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) has suffered an injury that will prevent him from defending his title against Anthony Johnson (22-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) on the Dec. 10 fight card at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

UFC officials have not yet made a formal announcement of Cormier’s withdrawal.

Cormier, No. 2 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light heavyweight rankings, was to attempt to defend the 205-pound belt against Johnson in a rematch of a May 2015 bout at UFC 187. “DC” won that fight by third-round submission, capturing the then-vacant belt left behind when former champ Jon Jones was stripped and suspended for his involvement in a hit-and-run accident.

After making his first defense against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 192 in October, Cormier was scheduled to rematch Jones in July’s UFC 200 headliner. The fight fell apart just days out, though, and Cormier ended up fighting and beating former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a short-notice affair.

The extent of Cormier’s injury remains to be seen, but the UFC 206 withdrawal marks the second time this year that he’s been forced to pull out of a scheduled title fight.

No. 3-ranked Johnson, meanwhile, has rattled off three consecutive victories since losing to Cormier at UFC 187, all in dominant fashion, to help him earn a second chance at becoming a UFC titleholder.

“Rumble” has steamrolled the competition, scoring three-straight knockouts of Jimi Manuwa, Ryan Bader, and most recently, a 13-second finish of Glover Teixeira at UFC 202 in August.

Johnson still may compete at UFC 206. However, it’s unknown what potential opponents could step in on only two weeks’ notice.

The UFC 206 card now includes:

• Anthony Johnson vs. TBA
• Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis
• Matt Brown vs. Donald Cerrone
• Rashad Evans vs. Tim Kennedy
• Dooho Choi vs. Cub Swanson
• Misha Cirkunov vs. Nikita Krylov
• Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Drew Dober
• Valerie Letourneau vs. Viviane Pereira
• John Makdessi vs. Lando Vannata
• Rustam Khabilov vs. Jason Saggo
• Mitch Gagnon vs. Matthew Lopez
• Zach Makovsky vs. Dustin Ortiz
• Emil Meek vs. Jordan Mein

And for more on UFC 206, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.