The two-division champion and Hall of Famer discusses UFC 304
Welcome to The Weekly Takedown, Sports Illustrated’s in-depth look at MMA. Every week, this column offers insight and information on the most noteworthy stories in the fight world.Paddy Pimblett enters the last fight of his current contract at UFC 304, where he will step into the cage against the toughest opponent of his career in King Green.
“This is the test,” said Cormier. “This is it. We find out this weekend if Paddy Pimblett is for real, or we see if it’s all been a show.” “Fairly recently, I was critical of Trey Ogden. I said that based off his fights, it looked like he was never going to reach that elite level. Trey fought this past Saturday, and when we spoke, he told me that my words personally. He told me that he hated hearing it, but that it motivated him. That’s a good thing, and I can do that because of my history in the sport.”
“It’s true, it took some convincing to even start this career,” said Cormier. “It wasn’t something I was looking to do. It started way back in 2011 and 2012, and there’s two guys that I owe a lot of my television career to–that’s Kieran Portley, who is at CBS in Florida now but was at ESPN at the time, and Zach Candido, our coordinating producer at the UFC. They saw something in me. Since then, it’s reps and reps to get better. And it’s so fun. I never thought I’d enjoy it this much.
“It’s going to be a great fight,” said Cormier. “Belal Muhammad has wanted this for so long that I think we’re going to see the best version of him, and Leon Edwards continues to improve and evolve. That Gilbert Burns fight, which he took on short notice, then put on a dominant performance, shows that Leon isn’t going to fight the same Belal he fought three years ago.”
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