Daniel Cormier reveals what he said to Jake Paul at UFC 261 as he considers stunning return to MMA to ‘torture and hurt him’
Daniel Cormier insists he would ONLY fight Jake Paul in an MMA bout and vowed to ‘smash him and hurt him’ after their exchange at UFC 261.
The YouTube star is perhaps the most controversial and divisive figure in fight sports at the moment, mentally torturing MMA fighters after knocking out Ben Askren in Atlanta.
Paul decided to infuriate the MMA world further when he arrived at the VyStars Memorial Arena in Jacksonville on Saturday night to watch the first UFC card with fans in the United States in more than a year.
One particular boiling point was his clash with Cormier, a former two-weight world champion, with the pair exchanging cross words before security intervened.
The 42-year-old explained what happened on Monday, insisting he would not get drawn into Paul’s childish games.
“I said: ‘Hey, I’m not going to play your games. Don’t mess with me.’ I’m not a kid to play with like this. I’m not going to be on the internet, messing around and all this other stuff. I go: ‘Keep my name out of your mouth.’
“And then security came and once the security got around he started to play big boy a little bit, starts trying to point and do all that. But initially his hands were in his pocket and he kind of leans in and I say: ‘I’m not going to play your game.’
“I said: ‘You’re going to get yourself hurt messing around. I’m not going to fight with you and play those public shenanigans.’ I go: ‘Keep my name out of your mouth.’
"He said: ‘Well, you said my name first.’
“I said: ‘Don’t play with me. Don’t play with me. I’m not a kid to me messing around with like that.’”
Having spoken about the 24-year-old in the week leading up to UFC 261, it is unsurprising the fighter-turned-commentator decided to say something. Yet he managed to show tremendous restraint when taunted.
“I wanted to grab his face,” Cormier added.
“I was going to grab him by the face, but I would have got in trouble by the UFC. Listen, a kid like that, you alpha a kid like that. You alpha him. I wanted to grab him by the face and smash him to the ground, but I can’t do that at work, I would have got into a lot of trouble.
“So I just went over there and tried to have a conversation with the kid and then security comes and all that and he’s like: ‘Sign the contract.’ I’m like: ‘Come on. Sign the contract, what are you talking about, ‘sign the contract?’ What contract are you referring to? ‘Oh, sign the contract.’ What are you talking about? There is no contract.
“You don’t punch down to go do all that, but come on, dude. You can talk and act like that with certain people. Not everybody. Not everybody’s going to do that. You start messing with certain people, they’re going to tell you about what they’re feeling.”
The list of fighters wanting to fight Jake Paul seems to grow on a weekly basis; Dillon Danis, Tyron Woodley, BJ Penn and Tommy Fury have all offered to step into the ring with the social media sensation.
Although Cormier - who retired in August after losing to Stipe Miocic- insists he does not want the fight, he assured fans he would not allow the youngster to continue to trash talk some of the most respected names in MMA for attention.
“I don’t want to fight Jake Paul,” Cormier said. “But I’m not going to let Jake Paul disrespect me.
“Let me tell you one thing about Jake Paul and I’ll refer back to the Conor McGregor deal. Conor went to fight Floyd, made a ton of money, because he had to. Floyd Mayweather is the greatest boxer of all time, so you go play on his playing field.
“Why would I go and box Jake Paul? Who I am doesn’t make me chase anything. I made my money as the heavyweight champion of the world. I don’t have to chase a payday.
“This kid wants to fight, okay, I’ll fight him. But it will be a mixed martial arts competition. If he wants to actually fight with me, fight me in mixed martial arts and then I’ll fight him all the way down at 205.
“I’m living fat and happy and healthy, I’ll go all the way down to 205 to fight this kid in mixed martial arts. If you really want to fight me, like seriously fight me, fight me in mixed martial arts.
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“This is not going to be fun. I’m telling you right now, at 42 years old, bad back and everything, I’m going to torture him and I’m going to hurt him. I don’t want to box him, I don’t want to fight in a limited skill set of rules.
“If you want to fight me, you really want to fight me, fight me in a mixed martial arts competition. I’ll go all the way back to 205 and I’m going to smash him and I’m going to hurt him and then he can go back to fighting these YouTube kids.”