Daniel Cormier thinks Michael Bisping scolding Ilia Topuria for not wanting to fight Arman Tsarukyan is unfair.
Bisping and “Believe You Me” co-host Paul Felder criticized UFC lightweight champion Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) for saying he’s willing to vacate his belt before fighting Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC). Bisping said Topuria is pulling a Jon Jones, who opted to retire over defending his title against Tom Aspinall.
Cormier wanted to remind Bisping of how he did something very similar when he was UFC middleweight champion.
“Michael, Paul, I understand the frustration,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “But Mike, you were on the championship side. You know when you were getting ready to fight Dan Henderson, you wanted some get-back on him, so you fought him. But if there was a bigger fight for you – Georges St-Pierre, for that matter – you took it, even though Yoel Romero, at the time, Mike, was probably the more justified No. 1 contender. The bigger fight was GSP, and you took it. I get the frustration, but think about the champion’s side, too.”
That being said, Cormier sides with Bisping and Felder that Topuria should be facing Tsarukyan in his first title defense.
“At the end of the day, I agree with y’all,” Cormier said. “It should be Arman vs. Ilia, and I don’t think there’s any question about that. But I think the problem with it is that lasting memory of him and Paddy Pimblett inside the octagon after (he won) the belt. It’s going to be hard to erase, man. Frustrated? Sure. Mike: Don’t act like you ain’t sat in this position before, Michael. You know exactly why he’s doing that because you did it yourself when you had a chance to fight GSP instead of Yoel Romero.”
