Cormier: I felt a sense of pride at MayMac
Daniel Cormier: “I wanted him to … see that we are very proud of him as a mixed martial arts community. Because he has nothing to hold his head down about.”
Past and future UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour and discussed what he felt when Conor McGregor boxed Floyd Mayweather.
“When I was watching Conor fight, I felt a sense of, like, pride,” said Cormier, as transcribed by MMA Fighting. “I was actually proud of him. I mean, it doesn’t matter that I’m proud of him. It just felt like, because I think I didn’t expect him to do as well as he did, and when I watched him out there and I watched him look good in there, I watched him hold himself high and give a good account of himself, I was like, man, look at him, look at how professional — he didn’t just chase money, he went out there to try to win a fight against the greatest boxer, I think, of all-time.
He went out there and he looked the part, he carried himself well in the promotion, the build-up, after the fight. In the fight, he fought well.”
[Mayweather] won, and it was clear what he was doing. He was trying to let Conor punch himself out and then get the finish.
I was very proud of [McGregor]. He went out there and he represented himself and the UFC and every other guy with a great deal of class and dignity and he did a fantastic job. So I felt like, as a guy who’s been in the sport for a long time, a guy who, every time I’m in contact with Conor, it’s only respect and he’s such a respectful guy, I wanted him to – if he got [my message], I know his coach pays quite a bit of attention, John Kavanagh – to see that we are very proud of him as a mixed martial arts community. Because he has nothing to hold his head down about.
He fought the greatest boxer of all-time and won rounds. I mean, when Brendan Schaub put that bet up that he would win rounds, I was like ‘I’ll take the bet.’ Man, I would’ve lost a lot of money to Brendan Schaub, because Conor won some rounds. He won some rounds and he did a fantastic job, man. We’re all proud of him. We’re all very proud of what he did out there on Saturday.
Conor in fact only won one round on the judge’s scorecards, but that says more about the state of boxing, than it does about McGregor’s boxing ability.
