Makhachev Ribs Cormier Over WWE Gig: ‘Look At This Fat Guy’

Daniel Cormier recently ticked a big item off his bucket list: he got to participate in a big WWE event. Cormier played the special guest referee for a special Fight Pit match between Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle at WWE’s Extreme Rules. And while Cormier and his friends were all thrilled by his performance that night, everyone also agreed he needs to lose a few pounds.

Islam Makhachev trained alongside Cormier for years at AKA, where “DC” became fast friends with the whole Dagestani wrestling crew. So when he was asked by SHAK MMA about his buddy’s referee gig, Makhachev couldn’t help but poke fun.

“Look at this fat guy,” Islam said. “He cannot compete anymore, he is a referee right now. He’s a smart guy, you don’t have to be good shape for come back, he just wants to be referee, do some easy stuff. He don’t want to no more cut, he wants to eat all day. Burgers, chips, this guy’s so smart.”

While we’re sure Cormier is gonna rough house Makhachev across the room over those comments next time they meet, he actually made similar comments after the bout.

“I came home and my partner at my barbershops, he was at my house and he was like, ‘Damn, you look a lot bigger on TV,’” Cormier said on his DC & RC show (via MMA Fighting). “I was like ‘TV adds a few pounds, and the stripes didn’t help.’ But that visual is why I’m going to lose weight. That visual is why your boy’s going to lose weight.”

Cormier was totally joking / not joking.

“So they were talking to me about doing future things in the WWE,” he added. “And I go, ‘I’ll do things, but I’ve got to get in shape first.’ Like give your boy some time to get some of this baggage off, this luggage. Let me get rid of some of the checked baggage and then maybe do a couple carry-ons, and then now I’m able to go and do some things in the ring. Let me have a couple carry-ons on the side and not the entire huge suitcase.”

With Cormier’s performance at Extreme Rules going over so well with fans in both pro wrestling and MMA, it’s no shock that the WWE would want to have him back sooner or later. Already there’s an upswell of interest in Cormier having some sort of angle with Brock Lesnar, who famously shoved him in the octagon after “DC” beat Stipe Miocic at UFC 226.

Even if they don’t have a match, anything Lesnar may do with Cormier may require the former UFC champ champ to get himself a little shaped up. If not for his health and safety, but for the ‘gram.