Cody Stamann picked up a unanimous decision win over Tom Duquesnoy a few weeks back on the preliminary card of UFC 216.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan called the fight alongside John Anik, but Stamann feels the commentary was biased and he wants an apology.
“As soon as it came out, I watched it,” Stamann told MMA Fighting. “I had my phone hooked up to my Bluetooth, I was with a few people and I was listening to the commentary, and now by the end of the first round I was frustrated enough to want to throw my phone through a wall after what they were saying. They were talking about Duquesnoy, where he trains, and I’m taking him down, hitting him with combinations and they’re not saying anything about that. I felt like Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan owe me a little bit of an apology. I felt like they were way more biased than they normally would be and I’m really not one to complain about that kind of stuff, but I was like, holy cow. I’ve had probably a hundred different people tell me that exact same thing, they were really loving Tom Duquesnoy for those first two rounds but in the third round they didn’t say his name again. So I guess I’m happy that I won them over, but at the same time that’s not their job to be that biased.”
Stamann now holds a 2-0-0 record under the UFC banner, while his UFC 216 opponent in Duquesnoy holds a 1-1-0 record in the promotion.
The victorious Stamann also believes the commentary was one sided because the UFC hype machine was supporting Duquesnoy.
“I think when you go in there and beat a guy that everyone is talking about being the next bantamweight champion, I definitely think a lot of people opened their eyes up to me as an athlete on Saturday night,” said Stamann. “His coach Greg Jackson was saying before the fight that Duquesnoy has all the capabilities of being a world champion. All these different media analysts were saying this guy’s the next thing, like, ‘Watch out Cody Garbrandt, this guy he’s coming for everybody.’ He’s got a humongous following, he’s got the whole country of France following him basically. He had every single thing that the UFC would want in a guy coming into the UFC. All the hype, everybody thought he was the man, so when I had the opportunity to fight him I was all over that. I knew that was my opportunity to steal that shine.”
Since Stamann made the comments, one person has come forward and made peace with the fighter.
That person is UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier, who stated the following through Twitter:
It's all good my man I respect ur gripe. U fought a tremendous fight. And got better as fight went on. Ur a stud!!! https://t.co/eQXHB5KZEr
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) October 16, 2017
Now that DC and Stamann have made peace, that leaves Rogan as the person who has yet to comment on the request made by the UFC fighter.
