Former Olympian gets the final say when the two step into the octagon.
Daniel Cormier needed a little more than a minute to earn his comeuppance over newcomer Patrick Cummins, getting back at the newcomer for his short, sharp battle of words against him in the lead-up to their bout at UFC 170.
Cormier punished his former wrestling partner and antagonist with heavy uppercuts before finishing him off in his debut at 205 pounds.
The light heavyweight bout was the co-main event of today’s UFC 170 event at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Cummins stepped in for an injured Rashad Evans and angered Cormier by using an unflattering story from their days in wrestling to fuel the promotional fire when he was signed to a UFC contract as a barista in his native Dana Point, Calif.
Cormier, a former Olympic freestyle wrestler, made him pay for the unflattering profile with heavy uppercuts, and after one such attack made its way up middle, Cummins went to the mat. Cormier followed him to the mat and fired away with punches until referee Mario Yamasaki called off the bout at the 1:19 mark of the first round.
Cormier afterward said he was angry to have taken any punches from Cummins and welcomed new challenges in his new division (14-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC).
He remains undefeated in the octagon after heavyweight wins over Frank Mir and Roy Nelson. Patrick Cummins (4-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), who like Cormier was a Division I wrestler prior to transitioning into MMA but did not share Cormier’s Olympic credentials, suffers his first professional loss.
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