There were concerns that Daniel Cormier may have suffered some serious damage after getting poked in the eye at UFC 253. For the first time since this fight, he opens up about how his eye is, and what his recovery is looking like.
Cormier fought his likely final fight at UFC 253, in a heavyweight title fight rubber match with Stipe Miocic. Unfortunately, like with the other two bouts, this one was a victim to the dreaded eye poke. However unlike their first two outings, it would be DC that suffered the brunt of the damage, arguably affecting his performance in the fourth and fifth rounds of the fight, en route to his unanimous decision loss. While he was normally the one doing the poking, it was still unfortunate that this poke was so severe, and that it was missed by the referee.
Daniel Cormier Has A Torn Cornea
For the first time since losing and retiring at UFC 253, Daniel Cormier was back in front of the cameras for the most recent episode of the DC and Helwani show. Here, he addressed the loss, as well as the situation with his eye. He explained that although he has a torn cornea, it is likely that he will not need surgery to repair it.
“(My eye) is much better,” Cormier said. “It was very bad initially. The first week and a half or so (after the fight), it wasn’t opening and it was completely blurry, but now it feels like I have an eyelash in it. I saw the doctor last week he told me I’m probably not gonna have to have surgery, just kind of rest and recover.
“It feels good, but it just feels like there’s something in there, like when you get an eyelash and you just can’t get it out. It’s just in the corner of the eye. It’s not bad though, it’s not bothering me too much. It’s a torn cornea. It was concerning initially because they did not know how severe the impact was going to be. They didn’t know if I was going to need surgery and things like that, but luckily I’m able to recover and I feel better. I prefer not to have surgery. I don’t want to go under the knife for everything.”
Speaking for the first time since UFC 252, @dc_mma provided an update on the eye that was injured in his fight with Stipe Miocic. pic.twitter.com/GeejTal043
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 31, 2020
It is good to see that Daniel Cormier is going to be okay, and will recover in time. Stipe Miocic needed surgery after suffering a similar fate in their second contest, so there is certainly a sense of irony. However nobody wants to see DC get severely injured, especially in his last fight.
