UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier is preparing to defend the gold in a rematch against former champion Jon Jones at UFC 214.
DC believes that if the UFC wants flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to fight TJ Dillashaw, then they should hand him a huge sum of money.
“UFC, if you want Demetrious Johnson to fight T.J. Dillashaw, give him the money,” Cormier said on UFC Tonight. “Pay him a million dollars and say ‘that’s your fight.’ I know it’s a lot for a 125-pounder, but the guy’s the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Pay him the money, and then let him go fight. ... Pay him as the No. 1 fighter in the world for once.”
Cormier is also a firm believer that the UFC has a problem marketing African American fighters like himself and Johnson.
“Honestly as an African-American, you have to market people differently,” Cormier said. “There is a different demographic and I don’t know if DJ really fits neatly into any certain one. Because just his family and everything, everything combined, you gotta get tricky marketing these small guys, especially an African-American guy. So the UFC doesn’t really know how to do that yet with him.”
Right now, three of the eleven champions in the UFC are African American. Those champions are Cormier (light heavyweight), Tyron Woodley (welterweight) and Mighty Mouse (flyweight).
UFC 214 takes place on Saturday, July 29 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California with Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
