Daniel Cormier has a torn ACL injury that would keep him from fighting Alexander Gustafsson in Spetember (Photo : Reuters/Joe Camporeale)
UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier said challenger Alexander Gustafsson is "cool" about the delay of their fight and was just happy to get another shot.
Cormier personally informed Gustaffson of the postponement to make it clear he was no trying to avoid him.
The champion has a lingering torn ACL and is seeking treament but could be ready to go by October.
The bout, Cormier's first defense, has been announced by the promotion and was expected to take place at UFC 191 in September.
Cormier (16-1, 5-1 UFC) won the title by stopping Anthony Johnson at UFC 187 in May.
Gustafsson (16-3, 8-3 UFC) is coming off a TKO loss to the Johnson in January in his home country of Sweden.
The Swede was expecting to beat Johnson and he took the loss so bad that he almost quit the sport.
Cormier, who represented the USA in the freestyle wrestling event in the 2004 Athens Olympics, was surprised that he needed to defend against Gustafsson because of the latter's loss to Johnson.
However, the champion said that he is committed to fight anyone placed in front of him but admitted he wanted to fight Ryan Bader first.
Cormier and Bader had a verbal spat at the UFC 187 post-fight press conference but the champion admired that the No. 3-ranked contender tried to get a title fight.
Doctors were actually amazed that Cormier is still fighting with the kind of injury he has, which requires surgery and a long rehabilitation period.
The 36-year-old Cormier is aware that time is not on his side and that he doesn't have a year or so to recover. He admitted that he doesn't know how long he'll be in the fight game.
He is currently doing stem cell and platelet rich plasma treatments to push off surgery.
Once he's done fighting, that when he feel she needed to have his knee done.
