Daniel Cormier was criticized by fans on social media for a recent statement he made.
Cormier was on commentary duties this past weekend at UFC 317, where Ilia Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira to win the vacant lightweight title.
While it looks like Topuria will be facing Paddy Pimblett in his first title defense following their heated stare down in the cage, ‘The Baddy’ isn’t the only potential opponent for the new champion.
Some have been pushing for Arman Tsarukyan to receive his overdue title shot after the #1 contender successfully weighed in as the backup fighter.
In the aftermath of June 28, Cormier spoke about a potential matchup between Topuria and Tsarukyan, during which he seemingly made an incorrect claim.
Fans criticized Daniel Cormier for claiming that Ilia Topuria comes from a wealthy background
On the first episode of ESPN MMA’s ‘Good Guy / Bad Guy’ following UFC 317, Daniel Cormier highlighted a factor that would make Ilia Topuria vs Arman Tsarukyan different from any other title fight.
Tsarukyan’s family wealth is a well-known fact at this stage but ‘DC’ recently claimed that Topuria also comes from money having asked him about the impressive gym that ‘El Matador’ has in his home.
“I come to find out, Ilia’s got family money. Ilia’s rich. Hey, Ilia’s got family money and then Tsarukyan, yo I saw Tsaruyan just housing thousand-dollar-a-bite of caviar. He’s just housing caviar, Arman’s rich. Could you imagine two rich dudes fighting for a UFC title? Two rich dudes that didn’t get their money in fighting would be the craziest thing because rich dudes don’t fight.”
Fans on social media disputed Cormier’s comments, with a clip from an old interview resurfacing where Topuria spoke about maintaining four jobs to support himself during his MMA career.
This led to Cormier facing some criticism online, with some claiming that it’s Topuria’s wife, Giorgina Uzcategui Badell, who comes from a wealthy background and not him.
‘DC is an actual weirdo for randomly spreading misinformation, Ilia literally worked four jobs.’
‘DC just be saying anything these days.’
‘It’s his wife [who is] the one with money, he was poor that’s why they moved from Georgia to Germany and then to Spain, and Ilia working four jobs is true, there’s photos from him as a bartender and working in the beach.’
‘I think his wife comes from a well-off family but I see both sides’.
‘DC is the biggest undercover hater ever. He envies Topuria.’
‘DC is simply jealous is all.’
Daniel Cormier blames Chael Sonnen for giving him false information about Ilia Topuria’s background
While some fans did back up Daniel Cormier by stating that he wasn’t necessarily wrong for saying that Ilia Topuria’s family are wealthy due to his marriage, the UFC legend still took to social media to apologize for his comments.
‘DC’ admitted that he was wrong before passing the blame onto his co-host on ‘Good Guy / Bad Guy’, Chael Sonnen.
“Damn I was wrong. I think Chael told me this and I should know better than to listen to Chael! He got me again”
Regardless of where their money comes from, a UFC title fight between Ilia Topuria and Arman Tsarukyan would be a somewhat rare circumstance where both men likely don’t need to fight due to their current financial situations.