Daniel Cormier Says His Injury Was His Fault

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Daniel Cormier said the American Kickboxing Academy should not be criticized for the injury that put him out of UFC 206, because it’s his fault. The AKA has been subject to complaints due to a recent string of injuries of fighters who train there. Cormier was the latest, forcing him out of a fight with Anthony Johnson. He suffered a torn right adductor muscle and is considering surgery. He hopes to be back by February or March. Here are highlights:

On how he felt before his bout with Anderson Silva at UFC 200: “I was like worried. Like, man did I run enough? Did I put enough miles in? Did I spar enough rounds? And you don’t want to be questioning yourself. That was supposed to be Jon Jones.”

On how that affected his training for UFC 206: “For me, I felt a little bit off. I felt like I didn’t do as much as I needed to do and it really messed with me mentally. Now, I spar a lot and I run a lot and I train a lot. It’s the only way that I feel secure in my own mind.”

On people blaming the gym or coach Javier Mendez: “It’s not Javier’s fault. This isn’t college. We’re not high-school athletes. Javier can tell me not to spar and I’ll be like, ‘Yeah sure, Jav.’ And then I’ll go spar. People always get confused. They talk about coaches. The reality is, these coaches and managers that everybody thinks are in so much control, they work for us. They’re our employees. The decisions are mine. If I got hurt, it was my fault.”