I think I mightve grabbed the towel - Daniel Cormier uses his Hall of Fame induction speech
Daniel Cormier used his UFC Hall of Fame speech to put one of MMA’s biggest conspiracy theories to bed by admitting he did cheat ahead of his fight against Anthony Johnson in 2017.
The former dual-weight champion initially failed to make the 205lb light-heavyweight limit ahead of his title defence at UFC 210 and weighed in at 206.2lb.
Cormier was given two hours to cut the extra 1.2lb and save the fight but didn’t use it. Instead, he returned to the stage minutes later with two men and two towels as he weighed in completely naked.
During his second weigh-in attempt, the now 43-year-old grabbed hold of the towel and leaned into it slightly, allowing it to take some of the weight off and help him hit championship weight.
‘DC’ went on to defend his title with a second-round submission win over Johnson but the fight became infamous because some eagle-eyed viewers spotted Cormier cheating to make weight ahead of the fight.
Five years later and Cormier finally admitted to what many always suspected.
“Guys, I want to tell you something because I feel like right now is the time to be completely transparent. I think I might’ve grabbed the towel in Buffalo," he said.
The UFC legend explained he was ready to give up when his nutritionist Dan Leith suggested they use the ‘towel trick’ and Cormier headed back out to the scales mere minutes after weighing in over the 205lb light-heavyweight limit.
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“I walked back to the back after missing weight by 1.2lbs. I tried to give it up guys, trust me, I tried to give it up. I had a pound to lose.
“They even went and called my wife to try to get me back in the tub. I said, ‘No way, this s**** over.’ She told me, Daniel, just take a hot bath. I go, ‘It’s not that simple.’”
“I walk back. Dan Leith, he goes, ‘DC, do you remember the old wrestling trick? I said, ‘Can you stand behind me?’ Because there’s two. You can put your hands behind you and the person can lift you up. He said, ‘No, it’s the towel one.’”
Cormier expected to get caught using the ‘towel trick’ but says the two people who were meant to be watching out for that kind of stuff didn’t seem interested at all.
“Do you understand the level of ridiculousness that has to happen in order for that to work? I looked down and could not believe my luck. I am a lucky guy. Even when I’d lose the belt would just come back to me,” he said.
“I look down, and the commissioner’s down on the floor looking at the scale. There’s a second lady. I look down, and she’s right next to him, so I grab the towel like, ‘S***, we home free’”
“Rumble [Anthony Johnson], I’m sorry, my guy.”
Cormier went on to make light-heavyweight without any issues in his next two fights against Jon Jones and Volkan Oezdemir before moving back up to heavyweight and becoming just one of four fighters to even hold two UFC titles simultaneously.
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