Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier knows a thing or two about beef that extends beyond the confines of the cage.
On Monday, bitter rivals Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington were allegedly involved in a physical altercation outside of a restaurant in Miami Beach, Fla. Police were called to the scene after Masvidal allegedly punched Covington twice in the face.
The pair met inside the cage for five rounds at UFC 272, but apparently that wasn’t enough to settle their differences. As a result, their beef has spilled into the streets.
Cormier, who was once involved in his own heated rivalry with Jon Jones, had his share of incidents outside of the cage, but explained why their situation never reached the level of Masvidal and Covington.
“It’s hard for me to sit up here and judge Jorge for his actions, being that Jon Jones and I had many altercations that almost ended up in the same way,” Cormier said on “DC & RC.” “But ultimately, people were able to stop us from taking it to the next level. But here’s the thing: a lot of these altercations happened prior to the fights happening and we were always very clear of each other.”
More often than not, when fighters have a heated rivalry that involves unsavory things said about the other, the differences are usually settled inside competition. There are a few high-profile exceptions, but usually cooler heads prevail after a fight.
“You got 25 minutes,” Cormier said. “That is the only place in which I’m going to condemn Jorge Masvidal. You had 25 minutes less than two weeks ago to do everything you wanted. It does not seem as though this was a – it’s so hard here not to assume, but it does not seem as though this was a come face-to-face and we get into a fight. It seems like something different, and that’s where it becomes a little bit off.
“Jorge Masvidal is a fighter. He’s an absolute fighter, he’s an absolute dog. But I don’t know if it can seep into the streets like that. We saw it with Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and Conor (McGregor). Khabib was not willing to let it go. It went too far for him to say at the end of the fight we’re OK. It went too far, and I feel like that’s what happened.”
After Cormier criticized Masvidal, he also addressed Covington’s actions that played a major part in the tensions between the two boiling over. Although Covington made many statements about being the self-proclaimed “king of Miami” and his knowledge of the streets, Cormier sees right through his act.
“Colby Covington is not a street guy,” Cormier said. “Colby Covington is a guy who likes to talk and fight. The shtick may have crossed the line, and now it’s gotten him into a situation that he is not really equipped for. That is why he didn’t have anyone in place with him to make sure that it didn’t cross the line.
“But because I know who I am, I always made sure there was someone in that place with me to make sure that I didn’t cross the line. To ensure my safety and protect everything that I was building.”
