UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier feels the UFC is the only MMA promotion in which athletes truly have an opportunity to achieve a superstar fame level.
Cormier sat cage-side as UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira defeated Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307. Pereira defended the belt for the third time in just seven months and rallied from early adversity to finish Rountree.
Cormier is a student of MMA, going back to his rapid rise to the UFC and multiple world championships. Before he signed with the UFC, he made a name for himself in promotions like Strikeforce and King of the Cage.
Cormier achieved legend status during his UFC run. As PFL and Bellator attempt to close the gap with the UFC and add more options for fighters, Cormier believes these promotions are biting off more than they can chew.
During a recent episode of Funky and the Champ with Ben Askren, Cormier weighed in on the monopoly in modern mixed martial arts.
“The NBA doesn’t exist without the best players in the world,” Cormier explained. “There are 100 leagues around the world, but they can never hold a candle to what the NBA is, so the best come and play here…there’s one place to fight, just one place. Because guess what? There’s only one place that honestly, not even trying to be a UFC guy, where you reach superstardom. One place where you fight the best in the world, where you maximize your visibility and earnings inside the Octagon and outside…
“Every other organization tries. And then eventually, it starts to falter,” Cormier continued. “I don’t understand why. The only one who has found success is Scott Coker, he’s the only guy who has found sustained success outside the UFC…every year the gap widens, and not even just a little bit, it doubles…every time the PFL uses the Kayla Harrison loss to promote someone on another card, that just tells you that they’re just throwing s*** at the wall, hoping something sticks.”
Kayla Harison signed with the UFC following a long, decorated tenure with PFL. Despite recent jabs from PFL founder Donn Davis, Harrison has amassed a 2-0 record in her UFC career.
He aint wrong , im watching it happen
Harrison will never be a “superstar”
Lol…get real
For now at least hes not wrong I guess. You can get people who are kind of stars within the MMA bubble but not really breakout names that the average Joe might have heard of. Closest would be maybe Kimbo and Gina back in the day.
Strikeforce was doing great at building up the roster and getting eyes, the hockey guys bailing and dumping it to zuffa ended the chance of another big league in America. I actually liked bellator and think a few contracts and poor fights out of the contracts did them in, if some fights went different then they thrive but pfl is just too different, and I hate the digital cage.
DC is a real jerkoff.
Like a weird fat nerd bully.
Strikeforce benefited from collapse of Pride and UFC failing to secure a bunch of big stars. They also had excellent production which I don’t believe (but not 100% sure) they did themselves. Bellator has always looked like shit on TV, Strikeforce put out a TV product that was at least on par with UFC arguably better production especially when compared to smaller UFC shows. Strikeforce had good TV deals too and at a time where people still watched TV.
He’s not wrong. They are still just feeder leagues for the UFC.
Except ONE and Glory .
Pfl is such a disappointment. They have some awesome fighters on their roster too which is a shame.
this seems so true to me now
That’s debatable. He’s definitely a legend in his own mind, that’s undebatable.
JJones Took his Seoul
Isn’t ONE literally run like a feeder league for the UFC? I thought that was Rich Franklin’s vision when he took the VP spot.
seems rare to me as i keep up on trades and signings imo
She’s no Honda Housey.
Not glory. One, I agree. Elsewhere in the world though, not so much in the US. Top level muay thai guys that otherwise would have been unheard of, like Rodtang have gotten real big due to One.
But, I do not disagree with DC. You will not get a Conor McGregor, a fighter so famous he transcends the sport and even non-fight fans know who they are, in any MMA promotion other than the UFC. Boxing is the only other place I can think of where fighters reach that “super star” level of fame.