Daniel "DC" Cormier, the UFC light heavyweight champion, is set to face Alexander Gustafsson in his first defense of his title. When exactly that fight is happening is up in the air right now, and it could be a while before Cormier gets back in the octagon.
According to reports, Cormier is about to undergo stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma treatments on his knee, which has been injured since before he fought Jon "Bones" Jones in January. Ahead of the Jones fight Cormier was battling an LCL injury which he rehabbed rather than undergo surgery for. Since then he's added ACL damage to the knee, meaning this fight will take quite some time to take place.
In fact, the fight will be so far down the line that it's not impossible to imagine Jones returning to the octagon and getting a chance to regain his title before Gustafsson fights for it. That would be a bad turn of events for Gustafsson, who took on Anthony "Rumble" Johnson under similar circumstances earlier this year and blew his shot at the UFC 187 main event.
Even before the loss to Johnson, knee problems forced Gustafsson to withdraw from the main event that eventually became the first Jones-Cormier bout.
"I was sparring and I felt my knee pop twice, but it didn't hurt, it just felt strange," Gustafsson said. "I finished training and came home and then I woke up the next morning and I could barely walk on my right leg. Then I felt the knee right away."
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