Quote: Fans Wanted To See Daniel Cormier Get Knocked Out At UFC 200
On the main card of July 9’s landmark UFC 200 event from Las Vegas, Nevada, reigning light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier took on late replacement former middleweight king Anderson Silva in a three round bout. Cormier used his decorated wrestling background to nullify Silva’s legendary striking and cruise to a unanimous decision victory. His dominant win, however, didn’t seem to go over too well with the fans.
Cormier was relentlessly booed, and according to former fighter turned analyst Chael Sonnen, it’s because fans wanted to see the former Olympian get knocked out:
“That’s a misunderstanding,” Sonnen told MMAFighting.com. “The fans didn’t care what Daniel did. The fans wanted to see Daniel get knocked out. And they knew that was not going to happen. They had no problem with the way he fought. They just wanted him to lose. That’s all that happened there. Brock [Lesnar] had the same game plan and they were happy as could be, because they wanted Brock to win.”
“DC” was originally scheduled to defend his title against bitter rival and former champion Jon Jones, but “Bones” was pulled from the card just days prior after being notified of a potential anti-doping violation. This incident was just the latest in a long list of troubles for Jones outside of the Octagon, but the pound-for-pound great is typically praised by fans unlike Cormier.
Sonnen said that Cormier is simply a great human being which may be a turn off to fans:
“The biggest thing with DC is he wants to be liked and you’ve got good guys and you’ve got bad guys,” Sonnen said. “DC is neither. He’s a great guy. Daniel is truly in a class of his own. If you interact or you hang out around town with Daniel Cormier, he treats everybody really well. He’s a great human being. And he wants people to see that and that seems to be the turn off, in my opinion.”
Do you agree with “The American Gangster”?
