UFC’s heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is set to clash with Derrick Lewis in the main event of UFC 230. On November 3rd the heavy hitters will climb in to The Octagon to fight over Cormier’s heavyweight belt. Initially the intended opponent for DC was Brock Lesnar but it fell apart for some reason, or the UFC brass were simply desperate for a big name to fill the empty top slot. Whatever it was we are for sure getting Cormier vs Lewis, however we may not be getting DC at full speed. He told The MMA Hour on Tuesday that he is working through a hand injury.
It’s good enough to fight. It’s not 100 percent, I’m going to be honest. My fist is closing but not all the way. It feels like now I have like a badly jammed finger. Like, it feels like my finger’s just jammed really badly right now…You ever had like a jammed finger and you just can’t really pop it? It kinda like sticks up a little bit more than the other finger? That’s where my hand is right now, so my pointer finger doesn’t close completely. Like, I can’t make a closed, tight fist, but it just feels like if I could pop it, I would be okay. The problem is I’m just too afraid to pop it. It hurts. Like, I’m not popping it. I’m just kinda hoping that if I’m sparring and I punch someone, that it pops and goes back to normal.
I can do a lot of things. Some sparring. I’m just not hitting as hard with my right hand. I can wrestle, but I’m just trying to be very careful. I’m kinda working around it, because if something’s going to happen, I prefer it to happen in the fight than in the training room. Because how horrible would be it be if I take this fight, three weeks until the fight, and then have to pull out a week later?
He went on to reveal that he has been able to swing with the best of the big men in the gym which is definitely promising. Lewis is taking the fight on relatively short notice so maybe things will balance out?