Daniel Cormier he thinks Conor McGregor a committed fight at UFC 303 would have been too risky.
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) withdrew from Saturday’s main event against Michael Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas after breaking his little toe during a training. McGregor was expected to return from a three-year layoff after suffering a broken leg in July 2021. “The Notorious” has pulled out of a UFC fight for the first time in his career, but Cormier said he needs to be more cautious at this point. your career.
“I believe it’s been so long that he can’t continue the fight because he has too much to lose,” Cormier said in “Good/Bad” with Chael Sonnen. “I also heard it’s the toe on the same side as the broken leg.”
McGregor didn’t receive much sympathy from other fighters, as the likes of former rival Rafael dos Anjos, UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev took the opportunity to criticize him for pulling out of the fight.
Cormier thinks it’s a smart strategy to try to goad him into a fight.
“When I look at it, I think it becomes an opportunity for almost every fighter in its orbit,” Cormier said. “You (Sonnen) and Conor can go back and forth, but at the end of the day all that’s going to happen is a bunch of words. But for Islam Makhachev, for Ilia Topuria, when they face Conor McGregor, it could lead to something. Both are holding golden belts.
“If none of these guys had championship belts, their words would be like those of other random fighters who call Conor McGregor. He does not care. He doesn’t care enough to respond. But when you hold a golden belt, you can say Conor’s name and he will respond to you. This injury, what it was and why he quit, now opens the door for all those guys. Leon Edwards should say something. If I’m the champion, I’m saying, ‘Well, that’s bullshit, you fight with a broken toe.’”
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