White: Cormier can defend both belts
Dana White: ”He’s a guy I would let do that. I gotta talk to Cormier, we haven’t talked about any of this stuff yet, but we will talk this week about the two belts, what he wants to do.”
Conor McGregor became the first person to hold two UFC belts simultaneously, but the featherweight belt was stripped immediately thereafter, as was the lightweight title eventually. There is a general feeling that you don’t really own a title until you have defended it successfully. Daniel Cormier has defended the light heavyweight title on multiple occasions, and he will apparently defend the heavyweight belt vs. Lesnar.
At the UFC 226 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White said he can defend both.
He’s a guy I would let do that, said White, as transcribed by Ryan Harkness for MMA Mania. I gotta talk to Cormier, we haven’t talked about any of this stuff yet, but we will talk this week about the two belts, what he wants to do. Maybe he defends his light heavyweight belt.
Lesnar has to be in the USADA testing pool for months, and has to enter the pool clean. So that fight is off until next year. Cormier entertained the idea of defending at light heavyweight in the meantime, if he gets adequately compensated.
I’m at a point now where it’s going to be very difficult to fight a Curtis Blaydes or … I don’t even know who’s coming up at 205 to be honest with you, said Cormier. Maybe Gustafsson fights well in August. But last time Gustafsson and I fought, we made no money. He’s got all these fans but nobody buys PPVs. So it’s weird.
It’s like, do you want to go to war and make so much less money? If I fight Brock Lesnar, I’m getting paid. So these guys are going to have to do something very special to earn a fight for the 205 pound belt, and I’ll do it. I’ll go down and fight and wait for Brock. So I could fight again around November. I could fight again around March and be done.
If Gustafsson does something very special I’ll go fight him again, because he’s been acting like he won the first fight. Gustafsson can get it.
Alexander Gustafsson fights Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 227 on August 4 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.