Daniel Cormier believes there could be some kind of miscommunication with Alex Pereira. Next month, Ciryl Gane will defend his heavyweight title against Josh Hokit at UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden. It’s a matchup that upsets “Poatan,” who had pushed for a rematch with Gane after losing to him on the UFC White House card, and earlier this week, Pereira criticized the matchup and the “influencers” who pushed for the fight, including Cormier. On Tuesday, Cormier responded to Pereira’s comments via his YouTube channel, rejecting the idea that he was being told what to say. “Alex Pereira is one of the best fighters we have seen in a long time.” time,” Cormier said. “Alex Pereira is a middleweight champion, a light heavyweight champion and a guy who now fights in the heavyweight division. Alex Pereira and I have built a relationship over the last five years that he has been here. I think it’s a great relationship and I think it’s a friendship. “But today Luis gave me something: Pereira did an interview and said some things, and I think a lot of it is a little confusing to me. First, it’s about the fight between Josh Hokit and Ciryl Gane, but that doesn’t necessarily bother me that much. It’s not true, though. “The UFC didn’t tell me to promote this fight as the one that was going to happen. I’ll tell you why I think that was the fight that was going to happen, after checking some facts… Once again, I have nothing against Alex Pereira. In any case, I consider him a friend of mine. We’ve had great times, we’ve had great interviews, we’ve had great interactions.” Pereira’s issues with Cormier weren’t just limited to the Gane-Hokit fight, though. He also claimed that Cormier told him he wouldn’t be champion if he’d beaten Gane at the UFC White House, which seemed to upset Pereira. But Cormier also brushed him off. “Guys, that’s not what happened,” Cormier said. “This was before the White House card, and Alex asked me through Pliny [Cruz, Pereira’s translator]If I won, would I be the GOAT? [Cormier plays a video showing the interaction he goes on to describe]”I didn’t say I wouldn’t be the champion; I said I wouldn’t be the GOAT, yet. I’m honest. I don’t lie to these guys. I don’t sugarcoat these guys. But I said if I won, defended the belt, yeah, we’d have the conversation. But I also said, of course, if he beats Ciryl Gane, he’d be the champion. But I did say I’d be in the conversation… But I also think that could just be a miscommunication. We don’t speak the same language, all that stuff.” The whole issue seems to boil down to Pereira wanting a rematch with Gane. From the UFC White House, Poatan has pushed for a replay of the fight, saying Gane cheated with illegal blows to the back of the head while finishing the fight. And Cormier thinks Pereira may not be approaching this situation the right way. “I think he’s a little wrong in the way he approaches it,” Cormier said. “Because he’s trying to get this rematch, and I don’t really know what he wants to base this immediate rematch on, other than possibly the punches to the back of the head. If he’s building his case based on ‘I deserve this rematch based on him finishing me in the second round with illegal punches,’ maybe. But other than that, there’s really not much to justify him getting an immediate title fight. “I would suggest that his history in wrestling, his championship (double champion) and the Las fights he has had allowed him to jump to heavyweight and fight for the belt before others. But if I had lost when I went to fight Stipe the first time, I don’t imagine I could have asked for an immediate rematch. I just don’t do it. Especially when I have nothing to go on. Because if it’s not based on illegal strikes, then it’s based on: ‘I just want this.’ I just want the rematch.” I don’t know. I need Alex to tell me what he’s basing this request on. “When it comes to the Josh Hokit fight, I said he should get the title fight, and there are a number of reasons why… Josh Hokit won those first two fights, and his third fight, a year after starting in the UFC, they put him in there with the world’s No. 5 ranked Curtis Blaydes, and that was one of the best heavyweight fights we’ve ever seen. Then he beat Derrick Lewis. who has fought for the title twice and is ranked inside the top 10. He has two top 10 wins, in a division that doesn’t have as much depth. “Look, it could have been Volkov, because Volkov already has a history with Ciryl Gane. But even that, even if it wasn’t Hokit, they probably would have chosen Volkov.” Pereira doesn’t have time to think about this, however, because instead of having a rematch with Gane, the former two-division champion will fight Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335 in December. And if he wins that fight, then Cormier believes he’ll finally get what he’s looking for. “Now, Pereira goes and wins his fight, I would definitely say he deserves to fight a winner,” Cormier said. “I just don’t know if the result in the White House in any way helps him to be fighting for the belt right away. But I didn’t say he wasn’t going to be the champion. In fact, I said the opposite: that if he won, he’d be in the conversation about GOAT, with two guys I admire a lot: Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson and Georges St-Pierre. So I just don’t want the conversation to change, because now it seems like we’re not aligned in terms of our views, when in reality I have been a huge supporter of Alex Pereira every step of the way… “I just have to attribute this quote to a lack of communication and a language barrier.”
