Jimi Manuwa is being benched.
Manuwa could still earn a spot on the UFC 214 card as a replacement for either Daniel Cormier or Jon Jones, but for now, the Brit is forced to stay put on the sidelines.
And he’s not really happy about it.
Manuwa (17-2) is already 37 years old and he believes now is the time to strike. With wins in three of his last four, Manuwa told Champions.co that he might move to a different weight class to stay active.
“I don’t want to wait around right now. I’m in my prime and I’ve got momentum with my last two wins. I don’t want to wait,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about going up or going down. Right now I’m at 104kg, so I can go up or I can go down. All options are open. I’m just working hard and staying ready.”
The light heavyweight division is tied up at the moment. Cormier is set to defend his title against Jones in July and Alexander Gustafsson faces Glover Teixeira later this month. That leaves Manuwa without a suitable foe, though he did mention Mauricio “Shogun” Rua as someone of interest.
“I need to move forward now, but there’s only Gus, Teixeira, Jones or DC and they are all fighting each other,” Manuwa said. “We will have to see how everything plays out and that … I asked for Shogun, but he said no because he’s injured or something until September. There is literally just no one for me to fight. We’re just going to have to see, you know.”
