In order to keep what he loved, Daniel Cormier just kept punching
Daniel Cormier, welcome to your new life. The UFC light heavyweight champion on Saturday defended his title for the first time, in a war of attrition against Alexander Gustafsson.
Afterwards, he could barely get in a few words during an interview (below) without getting interrupted by a new celebrity well-wisher. "It's gratifying, but I'm very tired," he said, before being momentarily intercepted by the general manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey.
Morey congratulated Cormier, and then DC congratulated him. "Way to build that team," he said kindly.
Back to the interview. "Alex put a beating on me. He's a f--king stud, man. I love that guy. He helped me grow up, today," he continued toward the camera in his face.
Morey wasn't the last. Cormier's expert cut-man during the fight, Don House, swung by. The fighter made a point to show his gratitude to the cut-man and top boxing coach.
"Thank you for sewing me up," he told House.
"Thank you, brother. I couldn't see between the second, but then you brought me back for the third."
Back to the interview. Then, back to being hugged and congratulated by members of the Houston Rockets who wanted a moment with the champ, a few words, and create a memory that they could remember with pride later.
Cormier seemed to recognize how, though he was being bombarded with request after request, to each individual person making one, it was a singular moment for them. So, he indulged, and engaged with class.
It's a good thing Cormier is a master at it all, because that's his life, now. From here on out, it's all fighting the best in the world who will test and push him to points he didn't previously know existed, and then afterwards glad-handing celebrities.
Back to the interview. "He kicked my ass bad in the second round," he tried to go on, before another interruption.
"In the second round, he landed some good punches. I was cut up. I couldn't see. I f--king think I broke my foot. So, I was really hurting but after the second round I started to kind of rebuild and tried to come back."
Rockets star James Harden then appeared in Cormier's line of vision, congratulating him. About half a dozen times in just two and a half minutes, the Louisiana native kept this long walk and talk up, with his coaches and training partners like Cain Velasquez, cheerily trailing him.
Cormier had to balance his usual eloquence during the interview, still drenched in sweat and blood, while limping back to his locker room on that possibly broken foot, with engaging in side-conversations and playing host to excited, famous fans who kept running up to him.
Each word seemed painful, and his eyes were dull with fatigue, but Cormier still made it happen. Much like he made the win happen for himself against Gustafsson.
Despite being dropped, taken down and cut open, the Olympian just kept moving.
"I don't want to lose this belt," he said, when asked how he was able to dig deep.
"So, when I got tired and was hurt, I just kept pressing. I kept punching even though my arms felt like noodles. I just kept f--king punching. I was going to fight him as long as we went. If it took 10 rounds I would've stayed in there. Maybe it looked like I was punching in molasses but I was trying to f--king tag him, and just keep punching.
"The measure of a champion is defending the belt after you've won it. I couldn't imagine defending it in a better way than tonight."
