“Find a fight for him” - Daniel Cormier proposes surprise name as must-have for UFC 300 fight card, says no to Islam Makhachev for specific reason
Daniel Cormier recently weighed in on the upcoming milestone UFC 300 event and explained his reasoning for why he would avoid adding Islam Makhachev to the event for a very specific reason.
During his appearance on today's episode of The MMA Hour, the former two-division UFC champion noted that he would slot Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler's long-awaited bout to the card as well as a title fight. Daniel Cormier mentioned that he would have the winner of next month's welterweight title fight, especially if it's Colby Covington, make their title defense at the milestone event.
He said:
"Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler, I think you have to...If the winner of the pay-per-view in two-weeks [UFC 296], I think that [welterweight] champion will be on UFC 300, especially if it's Colby Covington. You find a fight for Colby Covington. If Colby Covington wins, you find a fight for him."
'DC' then brought up that he wouldn't include UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev on the because he believes he should headline the promotion's first event in Saudi Arabia. He made a comparison to WWE and mentioned that Saudi Arabia is paying a sizeable fee, so Makhachev could be included despite it being a Fight Night card, saying:
"I think Islam [Makhachev] has to fight in Saudi Arabia. I think that just to me makes sense...When the WWE goes to Saudi Arabia, it's always huge...They want big...They're [Saudi Arabia] paying you a ton of money regardless."
It will be interesting to see what fights the UFC will schedule for their milestone event and whether the matchmakers will agree with Daniel Cormier regarding the welterweight championship.
Daniel Cormier believes it's difficult for other promotions to catch-up to the UFC
Daniel Cormier opened up about the idea of competition for the UFC in terms of a promotion challenging them and becoming the MMA leader.
During his appearance on The MMA Hour, 'DC' used his tenure competing in Strikeforce as an example and mentioned that the UFC operates at a different level and that they are too far ahead of their competition, saying:
"You always look for some sort of metric that puts you on the same level as the UFC and there's just really, there's not any. You know, from crowd attendance to gates to PPVs. There's just not a metric that's gonna show that you're on that level."