Daniel Cormier can’t understand anyone campaigning for Islam Makhachev to be stripped of his UFC lightweight title.
Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) has an array of lightweights eager for a shot at his belt, from former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC), to Justin Gaethje, to Charles Oliveira. Topuria claimed that the UFC promised him a shot at Makhachev upon vacating his 145-pound title, prompting Cormier’s friend Ben Askren to say he should be stripped if he refuses to fight Topuria. Many are speculating that Makhachev is waiting for the outcome of the welterweight title fight between champion Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena in the UFC 315 headliner on May 10.
With Makhachev having just defended his title with a quick submission of Renato Moicano at UFC 311 in January, Cormier shut down all that talk.
“You know what’s annoying to me is Islam Makhachev has said, ‘I don’t want really to fight Ilia Topuria because he’s a ’45er and I’ve done that. Give me somebody else.’ People are like, ‘Take the belt off of him. He should be stripped,'” Cormier said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen.
“I’ve seen reports, and I don’t even know that they’re true, it’s either strip or defend for Makhachev. Why? In the last two years, he fought (Alexander Volkanovski), he fought Dustin (Poirier), he fought Volk again, he fought against (Renato) Moicano. He fought them all. He fought four times in the amount of time that the heavyweight champion fought once.”
Cormier brought up Makhachev when the topic of whether UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones should be stripped after his title-unification bout with Tom Aspinall has taken over a year to be booked. Cormier gave his take on his former rival.
“Should he get stripped? I don’t know man,” Cormier said. “Because if he didn’t get stripped in March 2023 all the way to November of ’24, why would you do it now? It’s been six months (since he fought Miocic at UFC 309). The first time it was 18 months from him winning that belt to him defending that belt, and he did not get stripped. So, why would they strip him today?”
