Friday afternoon, the MMA community received some unfortunate news, that UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier had been forced out of his upcoming UFC 206 scrap with Anthony Johnson on December 10th in Toronto, Canada.
The fight was set to be Cormier’s second title defense since winning the belt in May of 2015, when he defeated Johnson via 3rd round submission. While the fight was initially supposed to be between Jon Jones and Anthony Johnson, Jones was stripped of the light heavyweight championship and suspended as the result of a hit-and-run incident in April of 2015.
Now, with just weeks to go until the rematch between the pair at UFC 206, Cormier has been forced out of the fight. While details were scarce at the time of the announcement, further light was shed on the situation during the ‘UFC Fight Night: Melbourne’ weigh-in show, where it was revealed that Cormier tore the adductor in his groin.
Via the FS1 Fight Night Weigh-in Show, Daniel Cormier's injury is a torn adductor in his groin. Hopes to return around March.
— RJ Clifford (@RJcliffordMMA) November 26, 2016
Following the news of his withdrawal, Cormier took to Twitter to apologize to Johnson, saying:
@Anthony_Rumble I left a message for you on ur phone. I apologize. We Will get to rock and roll bruh. Once again my apologies. DC
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) November 25, 2016
Johnson was quick to respond to the Tweet, sending the champ some good wishes, saying:
I wish nothing but the best for DC and I hope you have a full recovery champ…
— Anthony Johnson (@Anthony_Rumble) November 25, 2016