Daniel "DC" Cormier won the UFC light heavyweight title on May 26 when he withstood an early surge from Anthony "Rumble" Johnson and wore down the hard-punching challenger, eventually submitting him. In his post-fight press conference the genial Cormier told a reporter to address him as "Champ."
Rival light heavyweight Ryan Bader seized that comment as proof his recent rise in profile had gone to his head.
"He has no respect for people," Bader said. "There's a common denominator here, and it's him. All these fights (with other fighters), it's him."
Cormier, however, insists the "champ" comment was made in jest and out of excitement over winning his first-ever UFC title belt.
"It was a fairytale," Cormier told FOX Sports. "Not only winning the belt, but fighting for the belt multiple times. Being at the place I am right now with MMA in terms of stature with the FOX job and main eventing two UFC events in Las Vegas, back-to-back. It's not even the belt that makes it all surreal. It's my whole career is just surreal."
Cormier said tongue-in-cheek moments like that are in his nature, and that people reading into them to deem him arrogant are simply searching for reasons to discredit him.
"I can say 100-percent -- I was kidding," Cormier said. "If anyone believes that was serious or that was real, it's just them actually not wanting to like me. Who would say that? Call me 'Champ' Cormier, I'm kidding. I was joking.
I'm never going to change. I'm always tongue-in-cheek, I'm always having fun."
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