UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier reacted to UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland’s pay dispute with the organization.
Strickland went public this week with his displeasure about the amount of money that the UFC is supposedly offering him for a planned title defense against Nassourdine Imavov, which hangs in the balance at the moment, as Strickland feels like the UFC is lowballing him.
Surprisingly, Cormier — who works for the UFC — went to bat for Strickland.
Daniel Cormier Backs Sean Strickland in UFC Pay Dispute
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Cormier backed Strickland in his UFC pay dispute, as the last thing he wants is to see one of the best MMA fighters in the world leave the company.
“It just sounds like the champ is frustrated, it sounds like the champ is hurting. For Strickland, all of that may be true, but he’s also staring down the barrel of a fight with a guy he’s already beat in Imavov. He’s already beaten him once, but the guy has improved 10 times over, the guy is hungry, the guy is not afraid of him. … It’s hard when you’re having all those things, and you’re not getting what you feel you deserve for a rematch. I don’t know if they’re just shunning him. I don’t think that they would just be shunning him. I think Sean is just frustrated because he wants what he feels is his fair value,” Cormier said (via MMAjunkie.com).
“I don’t know what that number is. He seems pretty fed up, or he’s publicly negotiating. You can always take it one or two ways because we don’t want to see Sean Strickland go. No matter what you feel about Sean Strickland, the character, the personality, the person that says all the wild things, the one thing you have to respect is how great a fighter he is and how unexpected his run to becoming two-time UFC champion has been. You remember where the kid started, you remember where he came from, and now you’ve got to view what he’s buil, and have to appreciate that if you love mixed martial arts.”
Daniel Cormier Talks Strickland vs. Imavov 2
As far as a potential rematch between Strickland and Imavov goes, Cormier admitted that, although Strickland won the first fight, he feels like the rematch is a dangerous matchup for Strickland just because of where he is at in his career right now and given that his focus seems to be on getting more money, and not the actual opponent.
“So, rematch? But rematch is dangerous because you know what you felt in there that night, (and) you want your money. And Strickland seems like he’s ready to do just about anything to get that money. I don’t know how this plays out. I don’t know that this works in his favor, but I’m excited to see what happens. But I’m more into this fight than I was before because of the way Imavov actually approached it and Sean Strickland,” Cormier said.
Daniel Cormier Reacts to Sean Strickland’s UFC Pay Dispute