MMA veteran Daniel Cormier does not believe that the UFC, being the premier MMA organization in the world has any competition. No other promotion makes more money and generates more traffic than the UFC. It took a lot of years to get here but now that they find themselves in the top spot, the tables have seemed to have turned.
The closest comparison would be with its sister company, the WWE, which took over the territories under Vince McMahon Jr. in the 80s, and then beat out the WCW in the 90s and didn’t have any competition until AEW came into being a few years ago.
And while it has endured them all and lived past their little lives, the fact remains that the WWE has always had some competition to win.
But, according to Cormier, there is no such parallel like that in the MMA world.
He brought up the example of the AEW and WWE rivalry in a recent episode of the Good Guy/ Bad Guy Show and even spoke about what competition does,
“The UFC has really just become such a machine that it’s gonna be hard to compete with it…..At this point, I don’t think it’s going to be possible to catch them, the gap is just too big.”
Cormier then spoke about the pros and cons of competition and how it may be a good thing that the UFC does not have any. Because then the organization sets the standards that everyone else follows.
And in a sport such as the UFC that is still relatively young, one premier organization to lead the way seems to be working very well at the moment.
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Now, that may not necessarily be true. Being a monopoly also means that the UFC dictates the terms of play and can apply hard tactics to get what it wants, which while great for the company, might not bode so well for the sport. Case in point, the fighter pay issue, the rankings, the setting of the tone for what’s acceptable in MMA.
However, this is a discussion for another time.
Right now, it’s time to give Francis Ngannou his flowers, and ‘DC‘ has done exactly that. Highly impressed by Francis Ngannou’s recent win in the PFL, the former double champion raised the topic of his legacy.
Cormier hails Ngannou as a great heavyweight
Daniel Cormier was in awe after watching Francis Ngannou dismantle Renan Ferreira in the very first round of his return fight. This was his first time back in MMA after 2 years and it looked like he picked up where he left off.
Following the fight, Cormier uploaded a reaction video to YouTube and spoke about Ngannou’s performance. He had nothing but praise for the Cameroonian.
“Francis cemented himself still as one of the greatest heavyweights in the world, if not the best heavyweight fighter in the world right now, by doing what he did in that (cage) under those circumstances against the opponent he had.”
Ngannou showed the world that no matter who he takes on inside the octagon, he will come out victorious. What is even more impressive to see is how he has adapted his game. His ground game has improved by leaps and bounds, as has his boxing, which somehow makes him a far more dangerous man than he already was.
Besides, this last fight was for his son, Kove who had passed away only a few months ago. So, to have the mental fortitude to commit to an entire fight camp and then win in that fashion makes him a stronger man than most on this planet.
