Daniel Cormier, a former two-division UFC champion, gives detailed information about beef that goes beyond the cage.
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Daniel Cormier, a former UFC double-champion and current commentator, has spoken out on Jorge Masvidal’s attack on Colby Covington outside a restaurant in Miami Beach on Monday night, which is making huge national headlines.
On ESPN’s DC and RC podcast, Cormier remarked, “It’s hard for me to really sit up here and judge Jorge for his actions being that Jon Jones and I had many altercations that almost ended up in the same way. Ultimately, people were able to stop us from taking it to the next level. But here’s the thing, a lot of these altercations happened prior to the fights happening and then we were always very clear of each other.
“When you’ve got 25 minutes — you’ve got 25 minutes and that is the only place in which I’m going to condemn Jorge Masvidal — you had 25 minutes less than two weeks ago to do everything you wanted. It does not seem as though this was a — it’s so hard here not to assume — but it does not seem as though this was a ‘come face to face and then we get into a fight,’ it seems like something different. And that’s where it becomes a little bit off.”
Cormier went on to compare the scenario to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor’s long-running animosity, which also became violent outside of the Octagon, and expressed concern that the recent brawl between Masvidal and Covington might have long-term consequences.
Daniel Cormier says, “Jorge Masvidal is a fighter. He’s an absolute fighter, he’s an absolute dog, but I don’t know if it can seep into the streets like that. We saw it with Khabib and Conor.
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“Khabib was not willing to let it go. It went too far for him to say, ‘At the end of the fight, we’re OK.’ It went too far. And I feel like that’s what happened. … I just don’t really know if you can do it in the way that it seems to have been done because now I think that some serious stuff is gonna come out of this that these guys have families.”
Having said that, Cormier also stated that, while Covington talks a big game, he is not the sort of man who wants to fight on the streets and has already proven his worth in the cage.
Cormier continues saying, “Colby Covington is not a street guy. Like, I will tell you today, Colby Covington is not a street guy. Colby Covington is a guy that likes to talk and fight. The shtick may have crossed the line and now it’s gotten him into a situation that he is not really equipped for. That is why he didn’t have anybody in place with him to make sure that it didn’t cross a line. But because I know who I am, I always made sure somebody was in that place with me to make sure that I didn’t cross the line, to ensure my safety and protect everything that I was building.
“Understanding where you’re from, knowing that if things go sideways this is a dude that I know will go and do what he has to do. You’ve gotta have somebody you trust to make sure that you don’t go and lose everything that you worked so hard for. Colby’s not that guy. Colby’s not a guy that is looking to be dealing in street things. He may talk like it. When says he’s the King of Miami, he’s talking about he’s the best fighter from Miami and it’s hard to argue that right now considering Usman’s training in Colorado.”
