Cormier (photo) will face Cummins at UFC 170. Photo: Disclosure/UFC
Daniel Cormier admitted that he cried during wrestling training against Patrick Cummins, who will be his opponent at UFC 170, this Saturday (22). Cummins got the opportunity to replace the injured Rashad evans after Dana White, president of the UFC, was intrigued by the episode.
However, Cormier explained what happened and stated that the story, which happened during the preparation for the Athens Olympics, was not exactly as Cummins told it. “That was around 2004. I lost my daughter in 2003 [in a car accident], so I was going through a lot of personal issues. I called our coach at the time and told him the story Pat told. He replied 'that's not what happened! He's lying,'” he said, in an interview with the North American website “Shoot Media”.
“We were doing a simulation of the Olympics and he beat me. He beat me and I wanted a rematch. The coach told me 'no, the Olympics are over for you. You lost,' and that made me very upset. I ran out of the room and cried. I had the mentality that I was fighting for a gold medal and I had lost”, continued Cormier, who, however, remembered the only time they actually faced each other, in an official fight. “We actually competed once. I weighed 95 kg and he fought at heavyweight. He was third in weight in the country and I beat him seven to zero. In other words, when we laced up our shoes and really fought against each other, I beat him well”, he pondered.
Despite this, Cormier was unhappy that Cummins brought up the episode. “These things stay between us. There is no talk about training – that is the basic code of wrestlers. He knows this and he knew the things I was facing at the time. He dug up things he never should have dug up. This should have stayed in 2004, because he knew my situation. The Pat I remembered wasn't like that, he's a different person, but that's life. People change over time,” he lamented.
McMann defends Cormier: “To say Cummins made him cry is crazy”
Coincidentally, the main fight of UFC 170 will also feature a wrestling representative who went to the 2004 Olympics. Sara McMann, silver medalist in Athens, defended Cormier of Cummins' statements, insinuating that the fighter wants to take credit for something he didn't do.
“I came forward to defend someone worth defending,” he said, in a statement sent to the North American website “MMA Fighting”. “People don’t know what we went through in preparation for the Olympics. Wrestling is different from many other sports. The coaches, and not any specific fighter, were responsible for breaking Cormier's mental state. The training can even be a bit sadistic because it is so difficult. That’s how we prepare,” explained McMann, who detailed the training process.
“During these training sessions, we are always behind in scoring. There are always people taking turns to face us, people our weight who are eating whatever they want, who are rested, because they have time off and we don't. They have no pressure. It's a little ridiculous, because these training sessions are designed precisely to break us. Coaches only stop when you reach your lowest point. Wrestling has always been like this, so to say that Cummins made Cormier cry is crazy,” concluded the fighter.
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