Daniel Cormier Fights Back Tears As He Recalls the Bizarre Aftermath of His 2017 Defeat To Jon Jones

Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier has revealed that he has no memory of attempting to exit the Octagon before the official result was announced after his 2017 loss to Jon Jones at UFC 214, explaining the entire sequence from the moment he was hurt to his arrival in the ambulance as a blur. The comments came after Cormier criticised Gable Steveson for walking out of the octagon immediately following his 12-second knockout loss to Sean Sharaf at UFC 331, sparking a wider conversation about sportsmanship and how fighters handle defeat.

Daniel Cormier admits he thought footage of himself pulling away from referee John McCarthy after his 2017 loss to Jon Jones was AI, after criticizing Gable Steveson for his stunt at UFC 331 “I told Gable, ‘When you lose, you take your lick, you let that man get his hand raised.'” “A couple days after, I see a video of me in 2017 after Jon Jones knocked me out, pulling away from John McCarthy and trying to leave the Octagon. I had no recollection of that. I thought it was AI.” Via @dc_mma

— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) September 25, 2026

Cormier Reacts To Resurfaced Clip

In recent days, an old clip from UFC 214 resurfaced showing Cormier moving toward the exit before referee Herb Dean raised Jones' hand, even though the result had not yet been formally announced. When the footage began circulating online, Cormier said his first reaction was disbelief.

​“I was like, I couldn't have left. But I thought it was AI. I'd never seen it,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Then I got people in the thing telling me it's AI.”

After reviewing the video, he admitted he still has no memory of the moment. “I had no idea, because I still don't remember. I really don't remember. From the moment the kick landed until I got into the ambulance afterwards, where I kinda woke up; it was f***** odd. It was so odd.”

At UFC 214 in July 2017, Jones knocked Cormier out in the third round with a head kick followed by punches, reclaiming the light heavyweight title. Cormier has long said he doesn't like rewatching that fight, calling it “a wound that is very difficult to watch.”

He added that for years he assumed the incident never happened because he remembered giving an emotional post-fight interview in tears, which made it hard to reconcile with the memory of him trying to leave early.

Steveson's Exit and the Wider Reaction

Cormier's description of a memory gap from the time the head kick landed until he “woke up” in the ambulance aligns with what medical professionals often see in concussion cases: fighters can appear functional but have no lasting memory of parts of the bout or the immediate post-fight period.

​Steveson's early exit at UFC 331 drew criticism from several UFC figures, including Cormier and former champion Jon Jones, who later said it was his decision as a cornerman to take Steveson backstage immediately to prioritise his health.

​For Cormier, the situation appears to have prompted personal reflection. While he maintains that fighters should stay to accept the official result, his own lack of memory from UFC 214 underscores how complex these moments can be when brain trauma is involved.