Daniel Cormier may have been bit by the “International Fight Week” bug.
The UFC 226 pre-fight press conference is over and it ended with quite the scare. After Cormier, Stipe Miocic, Francis Ngannou, and Derrick Lewis answered questions from the media in front of fans inside the Pearl Theatre in Las Vegas, the fighters got up for faceoffs.
As Cormier got up, he tripped and took a hard fall. The UFC light heavyweight champion was helped up and he limped off stage. Cormier returned to do a staredown with Miocic and he certainly wasn’t in a good mood.
Here is Cormier’s fall:
Here's the clip of D.C. falling down after the presser. Seems like he's OK but legitimately scary in that moment #UFC226 pic.twitter.com/DzRanOQu2S
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) July 5, 2018
Here is Cormier walking off stage:
OMG Daniel Cormier just tripped and hobbled off stage ????? pic.twitter.com/7aX66utA0G
— Jim Edwards (@MMA_Jim) July 5, 2018
Fight fans have already received the bad news of Max Holloway’s removal from the UFC 226 co-main event. Holloway was set to defend his UFC featherweight title against Brian Ortega. That didn’t happen as “Blessed” was forced to pull out due to concussion-like symptoms.
The heavyweight bout between Ngannou and Lewis was promoted to the co-headlining spot. Paul Felder vs. Mike Perry was supposed to take place on the FOX Sports 1 portion of the prelims. The welterweight scrap got a bump up to the main card.
If no further mishaps get in the way, then this is the card fight fans will witness this Saturday night (July 7):
Main Card (PPV)
Stipe Miocic (C) vs. Daniel Cormier – for UFC heavyweight title
Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou
Paul Felder vs. Mike Perry
Michael Chiesa vs. Anthony Pettis
Khalil Rountree vs. Gokhan Saki
Prelims (FOX Sports 1)
Paulo Costa vs. Uriah Hall
Raphael Assuncao vs. Rob Font
Lando Vannata vs. Drakkar Klose
Max Griffin vs. Curtis Millender
Prelims (UFC Fight Pass)
Gilbert Burns vs. Dan Hooker
Jamie Moyle vs. Emily Whitmire
Is International Fight Week cursed?
