Daniel Cormier encourages Belal Muhammad to pump the brakes
In a recent upload to his YouTube channel, Cormier reacted to the brewing of bad blood between Muhammad and Usman.
“This is one of those situations, where Belal Muhammad is doing exactly what you’d expect from your champions, but you gotta be careful unless that’s exactly what you want,” Cormier said. “Either he wants to fight Kamaru Usman, or he’s just chirping. Because by doing what he’s doing right now, he might have to fight Kamaru Usman, because when you bring a champion back into play, who at this point, isn’t really in contention. Because of the fights with Leon [Edwards], and Khamzat [Chimaev], the powers that be are going ‘Well, he did go up to 185 on 10 days’ notice to save a card and fought the guy that’s in a No. 1 contender match. Very close, and if it was a five-round fight, many people thought he was going to win. Maybe he deserves a chance to fight this guy!’…
“We have seen many fights and rivalries built on the fact that the guys don’t like each other,” Cormier continued. “Many fighters get title shots that many of you believe were undeserved, based on the fact that the champion, they did not like. You’ve seen people like Alex Pereira, who was born to become the man, get a title fight in two UFC fights because he had a history with Israel Adesanya. It’s not rocket science! When you bring a man’s name into play like that, especially a man that carries a lot of reputation, that has cache, gets people to show up to the arena, you gotta be careful. Because if that’s not what you want, you might get that fight.”
Muhammad is expected to face undefeated contender Shavkat Rakhmonov for his first title defense. But, Usman remains firmly in the mix, along with an Edwards rematch and a clash with the surging Ian Machado Garry.
