Daniel Cormier urges Nassourdine Imavov to get "involved" in potential interim middleweight title fight conversation: "He deserves to be there"
Daniel Cormier recently weighed in on the current state of the UFC middleweight division. In a video on his YouTube channel, Cormier called for top-ranked 185-pound contender Nassourdine Imavov to enter the conversation about a possible interim bout.
For context, champion Dricus du Plessis is allegedly sidelined with an injury for the next few months, leading multiple top contenders to demand an interim title fight.
Khamzat Chimaev and Caio Borralho are apparently being mentioned with a bout for the interim UFC middleweight title. Meanwhile, Cormier has expressed support for Imavov, calling him a deserving fighter for the title shot:
"If I am Imavov, I'm saying, 'Listen, I want to be involved. This trifecta becomes a foursome because I need to be involved. I don't care what you're doing, whatever you're doing needs to involve me because I have earned that.'"
He added:
"Imavov deserves to be there, man. Let's call a spade a spade. He deserves to be there, and I hope that they don't forget about this dude, because this dude has earned his opportunity to fight in that level of competition with those level of guys."
Check out Daniel Cormier's comments below (10:40):
Daniel Cormier condemns possible interim UFC middleweight title fight
Although Daniel Cormier wants Nassourdine Imavov to be involved in discussions about a potential interim UFC middleweight title fight, he is critical of the need for one.
In the aforementioned video, Cormier pointed out that Dricus du Plessis recently defended his title against Sean Strickland at UFC 312, so it doesn't make sense to call for an interim title fight in the division:
"There's no reason for an interim championship fight. I'm just going to put it out there. If there's an interim title fight, being that Dricus just fought very recently, it would be, in my opinion, one of the most unjust interim titles made in recent UFC history... Dricus fought two months ago. Two months ago. So, to make an interim title, I think, is just unfair." [5:17]