Daniel Cormier is either a huge fan of Tom Aspinall or he doesn’t think much of the UFC’s current heavyweight division.
In a segment on Aspinall’s UFC 321 fight week vlog, Cormier was caught on a hot mic praising Aspinall and seemingly criticizing UFC’s roster of heavyweights. Aspinall defends his title against Ciryl Gane in Saturday’s main event, with top contenders Alexander Volkov and Jailton Almeida competing on the undercard, and it appears Cormier doesn’t think much of Aspinall’s opposition.
“These matchups in this division, like, what type of [expletive] run you can go on,” Cormier said. “Be crazy. It can change your life.”
“Because I mean, Almeida’s fighting [Volkov]. Jailton can’t fight. … Even [Volkov], you beat him in the first round. It can be [expletive] crazy. You’re on the verge of some crazy [expletive]. Keep working hard, though. You’ve got to keep working hard. Things like that, it doesn’t come around often.”
Check out the clip below.
The clip went viral on social media leading to Aspinall being asked about the exchange at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference for UFC 321.
Aspinall declined to fully endorse Cormier’s comments.
“Listen, heavyweight MMA is the most dangerous, unpredictable division in the whole sport,” Aspinall said. “Look, I think my level’s better than anybody else’s, but does that mean I can lose? I don’t know. I feel like I’m the best, but I’ve still got a lot to prove yet so I’m looking to do that.”
Regardless of what one thinks Gane or any of Aspinall’s potential challengers, there’s no question Aspinall has separated himself from the pack at heavyweight. In nine UFC appearances, Aspinall has finished seven of his opponents in the first round, with only Andrei Arlovski making it to Round 2 (where Aspinall submitted him 69 seconds into that frame). His lone UFC loss came to Curtis Blaydes due to a freak knee injury and he avenged that loss this past July, needing just 60 seconds to defeat Blaydes via knockout.
Aspinall also responded to the Cormier controversy in his YouTube comments, writing:
“Also relax guys DC was just giving me support about upcoming fights it’s no biggie”
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