Cormier: ‘There’s No Asterisk Next To My Name, I’m The Real Champ’

New UFC champion Daniel Cormier wants fans to know that he is the real champion, no matter what you say.

The champ appeared on The MMA Hour and talked about the criticism from some fans saying he isn’t the real champion because he didn’t beat Jon Jones.

Here’s what he had to say to that:

“I hear it, but you know what, I’ve got some great fans and friends because they defend me. You know I’ve said it time and time again that Jon disqualified himself from the competition. He took his name out of the hat. He’s not an option anymore right now. Until he gets everything right outside of the octagon if you get to choose who’s champion you cannot pick Jon Jones. He disqualified himself from competition and there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s nothing I can do about it, there’s nothing Anthony [Johnson] could have done about it. We can only compete to the best of our ability for what’s available and that’s the UFC Championship. I am proud of what I accomplished the other day. I mean, not a lot of people get the stand inside of the octagon and and wear a UFC title. I’m proud of that. You know what, man, I would like to fight Jon again and hopefully beat Jon. But when they put that belt around my waist I’m the UFC Champion. They don’t just give away those titles, man. And they didn’t say, here Daniel, here’s your interim title. They said, Daniel you are the lineal UFC Champion across the board. When we go through the books, as I said in the interview, I said, Ariel Helwani, when you look in the record books there will be no asterisk next to my name as I am the UFC champion.”

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