Daniel Cormier isn’t interested in ending his retirement to box Jake Paul.
The former dual-weight UFC champion is the latest MMA fighter to be targeted by Paul, who is flying high after beating Ben Askren inside one round this past weekend. The 24-year-old landed a big right hand early to drop Askren. ‘Funky’ rose to his feet quickly but was not allowed to continue by the referee who waved off the boxing bout.
‘DC’ took issue with the way the YouTuber’s team had spoken to Tyron Woodley backstage at Trillers latest pay-per-view event. The UFC commentator took to social media to voice his displeasure, something which prompted a call out from Paul.
Cormier addressed the call out on a recent episode of ‘DC & Helwani’.
“This dude would never fight me. I would kill him,” Cormier said. “Why would I ever fight someone like that?” But my immediate reaction was, ‘I can’t stand this kid.’ So it works! I can’t stand this kid! But who punches down? You don’t punch down to somebody. I’m the guy that’s in the Hall of Fame. I’m the guy that won two world championships at the same time.
“I’m not gonna punch down to some kid that’s on YouTube that’s, like, ‘Fight me!’ Like, why? What have you done to earn the right to fight me? So, no, it’s silly and stupid. But I would like him to fight Tyron. I would like to see him fight somebody more real. Don’t fight Ben Askren at 190, bloated.
“Fight a middleweight (185 lbs in MMA). Fight Luke Rockhold! Let me see you fight Luke Rockhold or somebody like that,” Cormier added. “And then I will not only say that you have base skills, I will say you’re a real fighter. Because right now it’s all pretend. It’s all pretend.” (Transcribed by BadLeftHook)
What do you think of Daniel Cormier turning down the chance to fight Jake Paul?