DC: My place in UFC history is secure regardless of what happens on Satu…
Daniel Cormier: “If I was to get beat by Derrick Lewis and then I had nothing else, I’d still be OK. The reality is, what I’ve done is done. You can’t take it away.”
Champ champ Daniel Cormier attended the UFC 230 media day on Thursday, and talked about his legacy, which he argues is not at risk on Saturday. However, at the least, his belts are. Early Sunday morning Derrick Lewis challenges for DC’s heavyweight belt. And on December 29, Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson will fight for the light heavyweight belt, which DC will have vacated. So he could end the year with zero belts, and big fall after being only the second person to hold two belts simultaneously, after Conor McGregor.
It’s very risky, said Cormier, as transcribed by Fernanda Prates and Mike Bohn for MMAjunkie. This is a guy that can finish the fight in no time.
That’s the difference between me and a lot of other guys: If I was to get beat by Derrick Lewis and then I had nothing else, I’d still be OK. The reality is, what I’ve done is done. You can’t take it away. Just because I lose doesn’t change it. People don’t look at B.J. Penn any different because he loses fights. People don’t look at Randy Couture – all the greatest champions in UFC history have started to lose fights. Their value remains the same.
And I have done what I have done, it will not change. On July 7, I cemented my place in MMA history. So if I lose, I lose. Hey, I’m going to make more money in TV than I’ve ever made fighting.
Money is one thing, being G.O.A.T. is another, and that conversation has to bring in Jon Jones who fought Cormier twice, and won both, but saw one changed to a No Contest.
The reality is, it’s a guy that beat me, said Cormier. So, to be the greatest fighter of all time, I’ll probably have to beat him. They can always point to the fact that, well, he won a fight, but he still lost two, so Jones is still better. There’s always an argument to the alternative.
How do you come to a universal conclusion on that argument? Just like, who’s the greatest pound-for-pound fighter ever? You never come to the true answer. And I can’t change that. It’s like the dog chasing his tale. I’d just be spinning in a circle, and I’m not a guy that likes to spin in a circle.