UFC middleweight fighter Phil Hawes goaded legend Daniel Cormier into a heated confrontation following his dominant victory over the former fighter’s protegee Deron Winn.
Hawes finished off Winn with a second-round TKO victory with ‘Megatron’ closing the show with a flurry of elbows, leaving his opponent bloodied.
Immediately following his win, Hawes appeared to take aim at Cormier for apparently choosing him to be Winn’s opponent.
The UFC fighter came off very heated, clearly under the assumption that Cormier thought Hawes would be an easy win for Deron Winn.
Hawes yelled at Cormier across the Octagon: “You picked the wrong opponent. You picked the wrong opponent, you know what I’m talking about.
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“I’ll cool off and next week you can fight me.”
Referee Herb Dean quickly got in between the two to defuse the situation, and ever the gentleman, Cormier responded in the most calm and teacher-like manner deescalating the situation.
The UFC commentator explained that he isn’t a matchmaker and simply had no bearing on the fight being put together or the outcome.
He told Hawes that he doesn’t ‘pick the fights’ while asking him to be ‘respectful’, before telling him: “Hey, you didn’t beat me.”
Cormier added: “Look at what happened, why would I want this fight?
“You can do better than that.”
It appeared Hawes’ emotions in the heat of the moment got the better of him as he immediately calmed down and realised he was in the wrong.
Fortunately cooler heads prevailed as Hawes immediately apologised to DC, before turning back to shake his hand.
I mean who wouldn’t back down when one of the legends of the game gives you a stern talking to.
‘No Hype’ clarified the confrontation later on in a post-fight interview.
He said: “It's just a misunderstanding on my behalf, you know, 'cause 'DC' is such a role model to me. You know what I mean? Two-weight world champion and just a freaking stellar dude. So there was a little miscommunication, wrong place, wrong time. I apologize, 'DC'. Don't beat me up."
Phil Hawes had quite the night, which kicked off with walking out to the iconic theme song of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Talking about the reaction to the theme song, he said: “The people loved it huh.
“I just feel like The Rock’s an icon and I’m a huge fan, I knew the people would love it, and I’m going to stick with it.
“As a kid growing up, ‘If you smell what The Rock is cooking’ it’s iconic.”
Topics: Daniel Cormier, MMA, UFC, Australia
Jayden Collins