Sara McMann: 'Crazy' Patrick Cummins shouldn't have 'poked the bear' ahead of UFC 170

Patrick Cummins, a late replacement for the injured Rashad Evans, takes on Daniel Cormier at UFC 170 pay-per-view (PPV) this Saturday night (Feb. 22, 2014), earned his ticket to the big show after he claimed to make "DC" cry during training.

While Cormier has already defended Cry-Gate the best he could, fellow Olympic wrestler and UFC 170 co-headliner, Sara McMann, has now come to the defense of her fellow Olympian. Speaking to MMA Fighting, Sara gave her first-hand take of exactly what happened during the "sadistic" wrestling drills.

And claims Cummins is taking way too much credit for claiming to "break" Cormier; when in reality, it's the coaches duty to push an athlete to the limit.

She explains:

"I don't think people understand what we go through to be prepared for the Olympics. Wrestling is kind of different than a lot of other sports. The coaches are responsible for breaking him, not anybody else. It could be labeled as sadistic. It is so difficult. That's how we prepare for things. During these practices, we are always down on points. We have people rotating in on us. They are people in our weight class that are eating whatever they want, they're fresh because they get breaks and we don't. They have no pressure on them. It's a little bit ridiculous because these practices are designed to break us. These coaches won't stop until you are flaking out, until you are at your absolute lowest point. That's the way it's been in wrestling forever. To say that he made [Cormier] cry, that's just crazy to me."

From barista to UFC fighter, Cummins will have the opportunity to back up all of his trash talk in only four days when he makes his Octagon debut in Las Vegas, Nevada, against a "pissed off" Cormier.

As McMann says, the last thing Cummins should have done is poked a bear like "DC."

Her words:

"I think Pat is a really great athlete, and I think this is going to be a tough fight, but I think that poking the bear and getting Daniel this pissed off, I don't think it was a good idea. I don't think he's someone who breaks down when he gets pissed off. I think he's someone who goes for blood. I don't think that was the right approach to get into Daniel's head."

Can Patrick pull of the biggest upset of the year? Or will Cormier force his former training partner to eat a heavy dosage of crow?