Daniel Cormier Is Ready To Fight Alexander Gustafsson or Ovince Saint Preux If He Has To

As we reported this weekend, Volkan Oezdemir was arrested for battery and could be out of his fight with UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 220, which was rumored but not confirmed. In an interview with The Anik & Florian Podcast (via MMA Fighting), Cormier said he’s ready to defend against names like Alexander Gustafsson or Ovince Saint Preux if Oezdemir can’t go. Here are highlights:

On who he’d fight if he can’t fight Oezdemir: “Of course, I’d fight any of these guys. It doesn’t matter. This guy’s on the longest win streak in the division so he was getting the title shot but if this trouble is gonna keep him out of the opportunity, I’ll just go to the next guy. So of course I’d fight Gustafsson and someone told me yesterday that Team Ovince Saint Preux was like, ‘We want a title fight because we’ve got a good winning streak too.’ Whoever is winning gets the title shot, that’s just the way it is. I don’t care who it is.”

On yet another fighter affected by legal issues: “It’s tough to be going through this type of thing, especially at this time when you’re on the cusp of your biggest moment of your career. I don’t know what happened. You’ve got to not be doing things that are wrong or put yourself in these situations where stuff can go sideways. You’ve got to try to stay out of those positions. Maybe it was self-defense but because he is who is is, it’s much worse because he has the ability to sleep dudes that are trying to hit him. You never know what’s happening but even these run-ins, they’re really unneeded, especially when you’re a young guy as Volkan is and you’re on the cusp of something so big for the first time in your career.”

On hoping to compete at UFC 220: “I’ve been waiting for the final go ahead. Obviously this throws a wrench into those plans, when we see what happens to Oezdemir. It’s kind of all fluid right now because we’ve got to see what happens with this guy. Alexander Gustafsson was never gonna be right now anyway, I think he may be dealing with some things. If it has to be him then I guess the fight will be a little bit later in the year, but I’d love to compete in Boston.”