After being ridiculed online for his NCAA wrestling commentary, Daniel Cormier has decided to hang up the gloves and…
After being ridiculed online for his NCAA wrestling commentary, Daniel Cormier has decided to hang up the gloves and says he will not be returning in the future to commentate.
A decorated wrestler and former UFC double champion, one would expect Cormier to be a perfect fit as an NCAA wrestling commentator. However, many fans blasted ‘DC’ online for his performance on the mic, and this, combined with other factors, would seemingly be the breaking point for the former double champ.
Mandatory Credit: Zuffa LLC
“DC is painful,” one wrestling fan wrote on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. “He has no professionalism on the mic to the point of it being ridiculous.”
Cormier would eventually respond, with not one, but two posts. “You guys have it.” he began. “I am out sorry to ruin your experience! You know I don’t ask to do this. Very important people ask me to do it. Anyhow carry on, my friend, I am out. Back to the minor leagues for me.”
You guys have it. I am out sorry to ruin your experience! You know I don’t ask to do this. Very important people ask me to do it. Anyhow carry on my friend I am out. Back to the minor leagues for me
Daniel Cormier Resigns from his NCAA Wrestling Commentary Gig on X, After Being Bashed by Fans
“Guys, I’m out,” Cormier continued. “This will be my last time doing the NCAA tournament. Continue to do things the same way and stay wrestling that hasn’t changed since the 40’s. I told the general public to watch, (and) a guy told me he’d rather tear his eyes out than watch. So enjoy. I’ll finish tonight, and I’m out!”
Another fan chimed in that Daniel Cormier also receives a lot of hate due to his UFC commentary, and he had a slightly different retort, stating that he gets paid a lot to do what he does for the UFC.
A Brief Look at Another Commentator who recently Came under fire
MMA fans seem to never fail to find a commentator to criticize. After the UFC event last Saturday, on March 23rd, a female commentator named Laura Sanko was criticized by a former MMA fighter named Jamie Varner. Varner claimed that Sanko had no idea what she was talking about, as she was never a fighter and needed to “stay in her lane”. However, he ended up making himself look very foolish, as Sanko had not only actually trained before, but she had also fought on the same fight card as Varner back in 2011 for Titan FC.
@jamievarner you and I actually fought on the same card in 2011 for Titan FC. We warmed up next to each other in the basement of the Memorial Hall building in KCK. My best friend braided your hair because you couldn’t find anyone to do it. I remember thinking how cool it was at…
Unlike the Daniel Cormier situation, fans came to Sanko’s aid and defended her honor, blasting Varner for his lackluster career and ignorant comments. Unfortunately, this type of behavior is nothing new for Varner. He last gained notoriety for launching a tirade on Twitter after the Super Bowl, claiming that the NFL was rigged.
Do you think some of the hate that commentators like Daniel Cormier and Laura Sanko receive is unfair?
Sanko returned to the commentary table on Saturday night for a loaded UFC Vegas 89 card featuring the return of former two-time strawweight world champion ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas. As usual, Sanko was a welcome addition to the broadcast, sharing her expertise through the 13-fight card. However, not everyone was appreciative of her efforts.
Crawling out of whatever hole he lives in these days, former WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner went on the attack, calling out Sanko and her “annoying” commentary in a pair of scathing posts online.
Varner expressed his disdain for Laura Sanko’s commentary on X, writing: “Leave the commentary to the people that have actually fought. A female UFC fighter should have that job, she is just annoying and it’s obvious she is trying so hard and doesn’t know what she is talking about.” Varner added in a follow-up post that Sanko is “a try-hard that speaks about things she knows nothing about. Talking about blast doubles and how tiring it could be in the first round of the fight, like what do you know about any of those things? Stay in your lane.”
Laura Sanko Reminds Jamie Varner of the time they fought on the same card
Clearly, Varner forgot that Laura Sanko is in fact a former fighter, having amassed a 5-1 overall record while competing for promotions such as Titan FC and Invicta. Responding to Varner’s criticism, Sanko even recalled details of when the two former fighters appeared on the same card together.
“It’s ok that you don’t like my commentary, but respectfully, I’ve been a part of this game and training since 2006,” Sanko wrote. I’m a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu and while I can’t compare my career to yours I have in fact fought. And if UFC had a 105 division I would have fought a lot longer.
“You and I actually fought on the same card in 2011 for Titan FC. We warmed up next to each other in the basement of the Memorial Hall building in KCK. My best friend braided your hair because you couldn’t find anyone to do it. I remember thinking how cool it was at the time to be on a card with you. I had followed your career in the WEC and was a little star-struck to be honest.”
For those curious, the event in question was Titan FC 20 in September 2011. Sanko won her bout against Kyla Potter in less than a minute via armbar while Varner lost his fight with current BKFC standout Dakota Cochrane.
Sanko put her mixed martial arts career to bed in 2013, but she was far from done in the sport. After earning her spot as a roving reporter for the UFC, she was given a shot at the commentary booth in 2021, joining the broadcast team for Dana White’s Contender Series. Two years later, Sanko made history at UFC 293 in Australia by becoming the first woman in the promotion’s Zuffa era to serve as a color commentator.
Sanko’s energetic and insightful commentary has been a welcomed addition to every broadcast she participates in and has quickly become a favorite among fight fans.
You have to be tough to fight in the UFC, but there are some limits that even these warriors are not expected to push beyond. Nevertheless, no matter how dire the circumstances, some UFC stars appear to have an ingrained ‘never say die’ attitude that enables to push on through the pain barrier when even […]
You have to be tough to fight in the UFC, but there are some limits that even these warriors are not expected to push beyond.
Nevertheless, no matter how dire the circumstances, some UFC stars appear to have an ingrained ‘never say die’ attitude that enables to push on through the pain barrier when even some of their most battle-hardened contemporaries would have called it quits.
In this article we’ll pay tribute to this rare breed as we recall 10 instances in which fighters suffered gruesome, agonizing injuries in the Octagon, yet still battled on regardless.
Rich Franklin
When former middleweight champion Rich Franklin stepped in to replace Tito Ortiz against hall of famer Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 in 2010 he knew that he was facing a wounded lion, with ‘The Iceman’ having been given an ultimatum by Dana White that if he didn’t win he would have to hang up his gloves.
With his career on the line, Liddell came out strong and started throwing powerful kicks instead of just relying on loading up with his often battle-tested right hand.
That proved to be bad news for Franklin, as just a minute into the fight had to block a thundering head kick attempt, which caused a clean break to the ulna bone in his left forearm.
This was a nightmare scenario for Franklin, but he did well to disguise his discomfort and kept fighting, even daring to continue to punch with his broken left arm at times while also posting on the damaged limb to get back to his feet after being taken down.
In the final minute of the round, Liddell thought he had Franklin in trouble and began upping the intensity, driving forward looking for a highlight-reel finish.
However, just then the wounded ‘Ace’ stood his ground, bit down on his mouthpiece and unleashed a short right hand that connected flush and knocked Liddell out cold for a classic against-all-odds victory.
As MMA fans we’ve almost become immune to stories of fighters getting injured, from broken hands and feet through to fractured noses, orbital bones and torn ACL’s. These kinds of ailments are easily diagnosed from MRI scans and x-rays, but what’s harder to pinpoint is the toll that being repeatedly punched, kicked, elbowed and kneed […]
As MMA fans we’ve almost become immune to stories of fighters getting injured, from broken hands and feet through to fractured noses, orbital bones and torn ACL’s.
These kinds of ailments are easily diagnosed from MRI scans and x-rays, but what’s harder to pinpoint is the toll that being repeatedly punched, kicked, elbowed and kneed in the face does to the brain and overall mental health of the fighters.
In recent years the brain disorder Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) has come to light in American Football, a condition caused from repeated blows to the head that can cause memory loss, difficulty thinking and eventually dementia, but it’s something that can only be fully diagnosed via an autopsy after death.
It’s often argued that MMA is still such a young sport, relatively speaking, that we don’t fully understand the extent of the damage it may or may not be causing, but while that may be true to an extent, there are already a growing body of anecdotal evidence that some fighters are paying a high price for their exploits in the cage.
In this article we’ll acknowledge the elephant in the room and focus in particular on 10 alarming stories of MMA stars who have suffered from one of the leading symptoms of brain trauma – memory loss, whether it’s in the immediate aftermath of some of most violent knockouts in UFC history, or in some particularly troubling cases on a daily basis even long after they’ve retired from the sport.
Krzysztof Soszynski
In 2014, 35-year-old UFC fighter Krzysztof Soszynski not only announced his retirement from the sport, but also bravely spoke out about the deeply troubling reasons for his decision.
By that stage Soszynski was already over two-years removed from his last fight against Igor Pokrajac at UFC 140, where he’d been knocked out cold for the first time in his career after just 35 seconds.
Soszynski said on ‘Inside MMA’ that his brain didn’t wake up for 40 minutes after the fight and so he has no recollection of being in the Octagon, giving a post-fight interview backstage, showering or changing afterwards.
Soszynski took six months off afterwards, but then admitted to UFC President Dana White that he was still having “head trouble,” including forgetting things, struggling to find words, mixing things up and having difficulty counting backwards from 20 to 0.
Upon hearing that White retired Soszynski on the spot and sent him to a brain specialist to get checked out, but unfortunately for ‘The Polish Experiment,’ even a few years later he was still dealing with the same issues.
“I’m sitting here now, and I can tell you I don’t remember Wednesday. And that’s two days ago,” Soszynski told Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice on ‘Inside MMA’.
Soszynski hasn’t bowed down to his ailments though and has gone on to become the UFC’s Director of MMA for their U.S. gyms as well as landing small roles in movies like ‘Logan’ and ‘Here Comes The Boom.’
True to his word, Jamie Varner was more than holding his own against Drew Dober at UFC on FOX 13 last weekend until bad luck befell him. While attempting to slam Dober to the mat, Varner pulled a Maynard and unintentionally knocked himself out, only waking up to find himself in a fight-ending rear-naked choke.
It was a particularly tough loss for Varner, being his fourth in as many contests and coming in front of his hometown crowd, and one that signaled that perhaps the game had passed by the former WEC champ. So for the second time, Varner called it quits in his post-fight interview, stating that it was a decision he had been planning to make for some time.
In an interview with media members after the fight, Varner expanded upon his reasons for retiring, what the future holds for him, and perhaps most importantly, the idea of starting a fighter’s union. Join us after the jump for the full interview.
(Photo via Getty.)
True to his word, Jamie Varner was more than holding his own against Drew Dober at UFC on FOX 13 last weekend until bad luck befell him. While attempting to slam Dober to the mat, Varner pulled a Maynard and unintentionally knocked himself out, only waking up to find himself in a fight-ending rear-naked choke.
It was a particularly tough loss for Varner, being his fourth in as many contests and coming in front of his hometown crowd, and one that signaled that perhaps the game had passed by the former WEC champ. So for the second time, Varner called it quits in his post-fight interview, stating that it was a decision he had been planning to make for some time.
In an interview with media members after the fight, Varner expanded upon his reasons for retiring, what the future holds for him, and perhaps most importantly, the idea of starting a fighter’s union. Check out the full interview below.
I would love to start some type of union for fighters. I mean, the sport is growing, and we’re getting all these big-time endorsement deals, and a lot of us – we’re just fighters. We don’t think about the next step.
I think it’s something that needs to happen. We are a mainstream, major sport now, and if you look at all the mainstream, major sports, they all have unions, and they have league minimums and some sort of retirement (plan) and all that kind of stuff. I think that’s something that needs to happen for fighters because this is one of those careers that when it’s over, a lot of these guys don’t have something else.
And just like that, Varner has likely been blacklisted.
I kid, but it is interesting to note how many fighters have felt comfortable discussing the potential of a fighter union in recent months, especially in light of the multi-million dollar lawsuit currently being filed against the UFC by some such fighters. Are the two directly related? Possibly, but it’s almost impossible to deny that the tide is starting to turn on the premiere organization in mixed martial arts. With guys like Brendan Schaub already coming forward to lament how badly the Reebok deal is screwing them over financially, it looks like the idea of a fighter union is starting to gain some steam. And it’s about f*cking time.
That’s how UFC lightweight Jamie Varner describes his trials and tribulations during the past year, in which he got knocked out by Abel Trujillo in a fight that he was winning, then suffered a TKO loss by ankle-injury against James Krause — in another fight that he was winning.
Varner’s back is against the wall as he returns to the Octagon at UFC on FOX 13, which takes place this Saturday, December 13th, in Varner’s hometown of Phoenix. In this candid interview with CagePotato.com, Jamie Varner opens up about the UFC’s controversial new partnership with Reebok, how he’s trying to rebound from a tough 2014, and his upcoming opponent, Drew Dober. (“I didn’t know anything about him. I still don’t.”) Enjoy, and follow Jamie on twitter and sqor.
CAGEPOTATO.COM: Since it’s such a hot topicthese days, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the UFC’s uniform deal with Reebok. Overall, do you think it’s a good thing, a bad thing, or is it still too early to tell?
JAMIE VARNER: It’s a little too early to tell. The organization is becoming more mainstream, the overall operations are becoming more corporate, and I think it’s time to implement some sort of fighters’ union, just to make sure that everything is fair and evenly distributed among the fighters. Because for me personally, about 30-40% of my income comes from sponsorships, and with the way their tier system has been announced, it’s like, champions get the most, #1-5 [ranked UFC contenders] get the second-most, 6-10 the third-most, 11-15 the fourth-most, and then all non-ranked fighters are going to be on the same level.
For a guy like me, I’m not in the top 15, but I’ve beaten a couple guys who are — Edson Barboza is ranked like #11 [Ed. Note:He’s actually #6 now] Donald Cerrone is top 5. So I’ve beaten guys in the top 12. And I have a pretty good audience and presence when I fight, people like to tune in to watch me throw down, so I don’t think that I should be making the same amount as a guy who has never fought on a main card, never got a Fight of the Night bonus. I just don’t really understand how this is all going to work out. I can’t really comment on whether I’m upset or happy with the way everything is. I do like the fact that we are all going to look nice. I like the fact that there is going be a little more structure, and we’re going to be more mainstream by having the uniforms, but the fighters need to be appropriately compensated.
That’s how UFC lightweight Jamie Varner describes his trials and tribulations during the past year, in which he got knocked out by Abel Trujillo in a fight that he was winning, then suffered a TKO loss by ankle-injury against James Krause — in another fight that he was winning.
Varner’s back is against the wall as he returns to the Octagon at UFC on FOX 13, which takes place this Saturday, December 13th, in Varner’s hometown of Phoenix. In this candid interview with CagePotato.com, Jamie Varner opens up about the UFC’s controversial new partnership with Reebok, how he’s trying to rebound from a tough 2014, and his upcoming opponent, Drew Dober. (“I didn’t know anything about him. I still don’t.”) Enjoy, and follow Jamie on twitter and sqor.
CAGEPOTATO.COM: Since it’s such a hot topicthese days, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the UFC’s uniform deal with Reebok. Overall, do you think it’s a good thing, a bad thing, or is it still too early to tell?
JAMIE VARNER: It’s a little too early to tell. The organization is becoming more mainstream, the overall operations are becoming more corporate, and I think it’s time to implement some sort of fighters’ union, just to make sure that everything is fair and evenly distributed among the fighters. Because for me personally, about 30-40% of my income comes from sponsorships, and with the way their tier system has been announced, it’s like, champions get the most, #1-5 [ranked UFC contenders] get the second-most, 6-10 the third-most, 11-15 the fourth-most, and then all non-ranked fighters are going to be on the same level.
For a guy like me, I’m not in the top 15, but I’ve beaten a couple guys who are — Edson Barboza is ranked like #11 [Ed. Note:He’s actually #6 now] Donald Cerrone is top 5. So I’ve beaten guys in the top 12. And I have a pretty good audience and presence when I fight, people like to tune in to watch me throw down, so I don’t think that I should be making the same amount as a guy who has never fought on a main card, never got a Fight of the Night bonus. I just don’t really understand how this is all going to work out. I can’t really comment on whether I’m upset or happy with the way everything is. I do like the fact that we are all going to look nice. I like the fact that there is going be a little more structure, and we’re going to be more mainstream by having the uniforms, but the fighters need to be appropriately compensated.
You mentioned that 30-40% of your income comes from sponsorships. Has that number held steady in recent years, or have you personally seen the market for sponsors in this sport dry up?
I was making more money, sponsorship-wise, back when I was in the WEC. That was also before you had to pay the [UFC sponsor] tax. But I was able to get big money from sponsors on fight night, and as soon as they implemented the sponsorship tax, money has definitely gone down. As well as the dilution of the sport — I mean there’s over 40 UFC events a year, so the sponsors aren’t paying as much money as they used to because there’s so many shows. So I’ve noticed that with the dilution [of events], the prices have kind of come down a little bit, but nevertheless, just because I’ve been a fan favorite and I’ve been around a long time and I have a great agent — Oren [Hodak] with KO Reps does right by me — I still have been able to make about 30-40% of my income from sponsors. So let’s say I make $20,000 in a fight, I can almost count on having $10,000-$15,000 in sponsorship money. At the end of the year, it totals out to be about 30-40% of my income, from sponsors.
I’d like to talk about the year you’ve had, which has been challenging at times, to say the least. That ankle break you suffered against James Krause looked terrible. In terms of the injury itself and the recovery, is it safe to call that the worst injury of your career?
No, it wasn’t the worst injury of my career. The worst injury of my career was definitely when I broke my hand and broke my foot against Donald Cerrone when I was in the WEC back in 2008 — but [the ankle injury] is #2. Yeah, this year’s been a tough year, man. I lost to Abel Trujillo in a fight that I was dominating. It was my first time ever being knocked out in my career. I’ve never even been dropped in training, in sparring, and I spar with monsters like Ryan Bader, CB Dollaway, Carlos Condit. I spar with some tough, tough guys, some pro boxers, and I’ve never gone down with a head shot.
To see the look in Abel’s eyes, to see that he had quit in that fight, that he had given up, that he had accepted defeat, and getting caught the way I got caught, with my hands down? It really sucked. Seriously, I looked into his eyes and he was done, and I was just waiting for the ref to come in and stop the fight. And the next thing I know I’m picking myself up. So kudos to Abel for toughing out the fight, but yeah, this year’s been a tough year. Breaking my ankle in the first minute of the first round with James Krause, and still being able to win the round, but losing that fight. Losing a tough split-decision to Gleison Tibau — I mean that fight I felt like I clearly won. Honestly, dude, I’m the best fighter with the worst luck, but I’m just gonna keep on fighting and keep on bringing it.
As you grow older in the sport, is there anything different you need to do in terms of physical preparation or recovery? Are you doing anything different lately to take better care of your body and prevent further injuries?
I’ve been doing this sport a long time, and plus I was wrestling and boxing in college, so I have a lot of wear and tear on my body. I took a different approach this training camp, which was a little bit longer than some of my past training camps. I used to do 6-8 weeks, and I did 8-10 weeks this time around, and I’ve only been doing two-a-days. I used to do three-a-days, Monday through Friday, and take Saturday and Sunday off. Now, I do two-a-days Monday through Thursday, one workout on Friday, and one workout on Saturday. But the Saturday workout is only an hour long, and I pretty much get the whole day to recover, then I get all day Sunday to recover. As far as being beat up and having injuries during training camp — because that’s when most of our injuries occur, is during training camp — I can’t tell you the last time I had a fight and I wasn’t injured going into it. Before I fought Ben Henderson, I had tore my MCL, I was just going off of cortisone shots in my knee just to survive the training camp and get through that fight, and then pretty much every fight since then I’ve had some sort of injury. From what I hear, most fighters are the same way. You go into almost every fight banged up, a little injured, and that’s the way it is. It’s such a hard sport on your body
You’ll be fighting at UFC on FOX 13 against Drew Dober, a guy who had floated around the regional promotions for a while before getting a UFC contract last year. Had he been on your radar before this fight was announced? Did you know much about him?
I didn’t know anything about him. I still don’t. I’ve seen three fights of his. One of them was against a southpaw so I just turned that fight off after a little while. Another one was against a guy at 170 pounds who was about six inches taller than me, so that fight doesn’t really make any sense. The only fight that really made any sense was a fight that he did about a year ago in a regional promotion that I watched. It went three rounds and he ended up winning the decision, but he got dropped twice in the first round with punches and was put full on into a triangle choke, completely locked up, and was still able to fight his way out and come back and win that fight. So he’s a tough, durable dude that’s gonna be another tough test for me, but I also expect this to be Fight of the Night. It’s gonna be like “Clash of the Titans,” we both like to move forward, we like to throw punches and kicks, we both like to command the center of the ring.
Alright Jamie, it’s lightning-round time. At this point, what do you consider to be the greatest fight of your career?
Rob McCullough and Edson Barboza, those two were the best fights of my career.
That was UFC 68, and no I have not about bringing that back.
I’ve seen photos on social media of the “green drink” that you make. What exactly goes into that, and are there any special tricks to making it taste good?
There are no tricks into making it taste good. It’s Lacinato kale, a half a Granny Smith green apple, and a half a cucumber, and that’s it. The Granny Smith apple sweetens it up enough to just make it bearable.
Is there anything else you’d like to say before I let you go?
Yeah, I just want to give Body Fortress a shout-out, they’re my main sponsor, and they’re not even allowed in the UFC. They’ve been sponsoring me for two years now — I’m going into my third year with them — and they’re a great company to work for. I use all of their products, off-season and when I’m training for a fight. Their whey isolate and their glutamine are my top two that I use in training camp, and then out of training camp I use their advanced whey protein, their creatine, and their NOS.
While the UFC’s return to The APEX delivered some epic finishes, Laura Sanko may have scored the biggest knockout…
