Phil Hawes and Daniel Cormier were caught bickering back-and-forth in the cage during Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 37.
Hawes shouted at Cormier as the officials were getting ready to read the result. Cormier, who was on duty as color commentator, was stepping in the octagon to talk to Hawes for his in-cage, post-fight interview. And as soon as he heard from Hawes, he didn’t sit quiet and fired back. It was an unexpected scene.
“You picked the wrong pony,” Hawes shouted at Cormier. “Yeah, you dog. You know what I’m talking about. I’ll cool off and then next week you can fight me.”
“I don’t pick fights,” Cormier said. “Be respectful. You didn’t beat me. I don’t pick fights. Look at what happened. Why would I want this fight? You can do it better than that. Don’t do that.”
That was the end of their argument, and the broadcast proceeded as normal. It’s unknown what exactly triggered the back-and-forth, but Hawes addressed it backstage with the media and took the blame for the incident.
“It was a misunderstanding on my behalf,” Hawes told reporters. “DC is such a great role model to me. He’s a two-weight world champion and just a freaking stellar dude. So it was just a bit of miscommunication and wrong place, wrong time. I apologize. DC, please don’t beat me up.”
