Daniel Cormier inclined to give Usman Nurmagomedov 'grace' after UFC Shanghai cage-rush
· Yahoo Sports
Daniel Cormier gives Usman Nurmagomedov the benefit of the doubt after he jumped the cage at UFC Shanghai.
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Nurmagomedov watched his brother, Umar Nurmagomedov (20-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC), get knocked out by Song Yadong in Saturday's UFC Fight Night 286 headliner at Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in China. A concerned Usman immediately rushed the cage to check on his brother, but ended up crashing into Song, who was running around the octagon to celebrate his win.
Usman appeared to hold back from throwing a spinning back elbow on Song (24-9-1 MMA, 13-4-1 UFC), but he denied trying to attack him. Cormier came to Usman's defense on the whole situation.
"He did not elbow him. Let's stop making conspiracy theories out there, people," Cormier said of Usman on his YouTube channel. "He did not elbow him, and he did not attack Song Yadong. What he did was try to get to his brother. Now, that in itself is not allowed. We are not allowed to do that. But if there's anyone that you care about immensely and you want to try to rush to their side in that moment, it is your brother – blood brother, not a brother as in a friend that you love, not a cousin, not a relative. This is his actual brother. So he jumps to the octagon, which is not allowed.
"But if there's anytime that someone will deal on emotion, you would think that it was this. The reason they don't let people jump is because of the things that happened with Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and Conor (McGregor), and all those other things. They cannot control whenever the situation gets chaotic, and that's why Usman cannot do that. But again, I am more inclined to give him a bit of grace because you watch your brother get starched in that way. But he's not the first brother to get beat. Obviously, he needs to learn how to handle that a little bit better if it is to ever happen again."
PFL lightweight champion Usman (22-0) is currently a free agent and could be UFC bound if he does not opt to re-sign with his current promotion. UFC CEO Dana White is interested in signing the undefeated 28-year-old.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Daniel Cormier inclined to give Usman Nurmagomedov 'grace' after UFC Shanghai cage-rush