Daniel Cormier Talks Brock Lesnar's Mic Skills During UFC 226 Altercation
At UFC 226 a scene straight out of pro wrestling occurred in the octagon at the conclusion of the event. After Daniel Cormier won the UFC Heavyweight Championship, he then cut a promo and called out Brock Lesnar who emerged from the crowd.
After some pushing and shoving, the two then cut WWE-esque promos and teased an upcoming match at some point. Cormier, who has been a long-time wrestling fan, talked about this being his "WrestleMania moment" on Busted Open Radio.
"I am in the ring, as Stipe Miocic's song starts I look across the octagon and Brock Lesnar is staring at me smiling," said Cormier. "I am thinking to myself, okay, obviously Brock is here for a fight. Let me take care of this and I will come to you afterward.
"I win the fight, I go, 'Brock, you obviously wanted it. Get your a** in here if you wanted it.' Now, I didn't know he was going to push me. If I knew he was going to push me I would have dug my heels. I didn't like the visual of him pushing me and me flying back like that. It is not the best visual for a guy like me. I don't want to seem like he can just toss me around."
While physicality is one of Lesnar's calling cards, talking on the mic is not. There was no Paul Heyman around but Lesnar's mic work surprised even Cormier.
"Right after that, we kept going back and forth. Brock did a promo on me calling me a piece of s**t. I don't know why they haven't had Brock talking in years because he is good at it," revealed Cormier. "It is special when he does so maybe that is why it resonated so well. Then he left, but I mean I would have dug my heels first off, and secondly, I would have pushed him back. But honestly, I was in there thinking, holy s**t, I am having a WrestleMania moment. I am having a WrestleMania moment right now with Brock Lesnar. It is the greatest, craziest thing and was thinking about how amazing it was. Even at that moment, I was like, this is crazy."
Cormier is both the heavyweight and light heavyweight champion in UFC while Lesnar is a former heavyweight champion, but has fought just once since 2012. However, Lesnar is as big a draw as anyone in UFC and Cormier knows there is a fortune to be made by fighting him.
"It was crazy in the ring, but when I got to the back I was like, holy smokes, we are going to make a s**t ton of money because look, Brock Lesnar is a special attraction. That is why when he shows up, he wasn't at UFC just to watch a fight. He doesn't go to a UFC and watch a fight. He barely watches WWE and he works there you know what I am saying? I knew he was coming for something so I was like this dude wanted something and I am going to give it to him," stated Cormier.
"Me getting to fight Brock Lesnar – because I remember my partner, Cain Velasquez fighting him in 2010. Brock walked into the arena and that place was electric. I mean, Anaheim was insane. I had never felt energy like that and I was at UFC 200, we fought on the same card so it was electric that night as well. So, just to be standing opposite of him in an octagon is going to be insane, but once that bell rings and they yell fight, I am going to kill him. He is going to be completely in over his head."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open Radio with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Busted Open Radio
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.