Daniel Cormier confronts Dominik Cruz in person for criticising his UFC commentary ahead of UFC 269

Former UFC double champion Daniel Cormier does not take criticism of his commentary well, it appears.

UFC bantamweight Dominick Cruz competes this weekend at UFC 269 and the commentary team for the event is Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Cormier; a trio many refer to as ‘the A-team.

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However, speaking to the media ahead of UFC’s final pay-per-view of 2021, Cruz was less than complimentary of Cormier on the desk, more specifically his preparation.

“When it comes to ‘DC,’ I usually mute it,” Cruz said during media day of Cormier’s commentary. 

“I love DC, he’s my friend, but to me, from my experience, he doesn’t do the homework. He wants to get in and out, get the job done, make his money, and I think he cares about us but it’s just different.

“He doesn’t do the preparation from my experience. He might now, I’m hoping he watches some film this time on me so he knows what I’m doing and why I’m doing it, but I’m not gonna hold my breath on that, that’s for sure.”

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That same day, Cormier invited Cruz on his YouTube show in a bid to have his say on Cruz’s criticisms, notes that clearly hadn’t taken long to make their way to Cormier.

“The things we talk about privately, we aren’t supposed to say in public,” Cormier said to Cruz. “That’s what you just did. That’s our rule. You say so many things privately that I would never say publicly. You and I say things privately that we would never say publicly.”

From Cruz’s perspective, he didn’t say anything about Cormier that he wouldn’t have said to his face. The former bantamweight champion said he was holding his friend accountable.

“I held you accountable,” Cruz said when speaking to Cormier. “Accountability is love, D.C. Accountability is love. It’s love. It’s a generalisation.

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“I’m not allowed to say what I feel? I’m wrong?”

Cormier still believed that Cruz should have told him his thoughts in private and defended how he prepares for his job.

“Dominick, there’s a different way to prepare for a fight than watching film,” Cormier said. “It’s not singular. I do watch. I watch film every single time. Do I watch fights to the extent that you watch fights? No. I will openly sit here and say I don’t watch fights to the extent that Dominick Cruz watches. I do watch film. Every single time.

“I watch every one of your fights. I’ve called your last fights. I’ve called your last two fights. But before those fights, I watched prior fights. I watch winning fights. I watch losing fights. I watch all the fights.”

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Furthermore, Cormier believes this idea from Cruz stems from past critiques that Cormier didn’t address.

“You know where this idea comes from? Because when you say stuff like ‘D.C., you don’t watch fights,’ I don’t bother to combat it,” Cormier said. “So then you take it as fact. Because I don’t say, ‘No, I do Dominick.’ Because I really feel no need to really have to tell you why or how I prepare for my fights.

“It’s your interpretation that I don’t watch the fights because I don’t combat when you say, ‘Oh, you don’t watch fights.’ I don’t go, ‘Oh no Dominick, I do watch fights.’ So then you take that as me admitted that I don’t, but the reality is I do.”

While DC defended his professional output, he seemed more hurt that Cruz would go public with his criticism more than anything else.

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“Can I tell you something right now as a friend? It was wrong of you to say what you said this morning,” Cormier told Cruz. “Because that was not fair of you as a colleague to do that publicly. You should tell me.

“The reality is even if you said D.C’s my brother, you and I brothers, we’re brothers, but even if you say that, they won’t run that. They won’t run that you say that we’re brothers.”

“As a colleague, a professional courtesy, you don’t do that to your teammates,” he said. “You don’t go publicly. Those things you don’t say in the public.”

Cruz faces Pedro Munhoz this Saturday with Cormier at the desk.