Dana Talks Vince & WWE Network Not Making Sense, Top UFC Star Talks Deciding Against WWE Career
- Former wrestling Olympian Daniel Cormier is one of the brightest prospects in the UFC's light heavyweight division right now. If things would've play out differently though, he might be a star in professional wrestling.
Cormier recently told FightHub that if pro wrestling weren't as tough as it is, he may never have pursued a career in mixed martial arts.
"It hurts so bad. It hurts bad," Cormier said of pro wrestling. "I tried it. I thought about going to WWF, I promise you. After the Olympics in '04. I went to a couple of shows too. ... (Muhammad) 'King Mo' (Lawal) actually went to the training camp before he started doing this. I stopped right before that because I was too afraid. I was like, 'Man this hurts.' They slam you in the ring. I went to TNA wrestling back in the day. Me and Joel Williams got to walk down the ramp; they did a couple of body slams and were like, 'You gotta throw your arms back!' And I was like, "Man this hurts, I'm done.' I'm not doing professional wrestling."
Cormier is set to face Rashad Evans at UFC 170 this February.
- Much was made of the WWE Network's apparent superiority to the UFC's Fight Pass service. In addition to offering essentially the same services as Fight Pass, the WWE Network also offers all of the promotion's pay-per-views in the monthly $9.99 fee. Rather than being threatened by that though, UFC president Dana White sees it as a risky move that exemplifies Vince McMahon's pioneering mentality.
"You know, Vince is a guy who is a trailblazer," White said recently. "Look at the stuff that Vince has done throughout his career with WWE and how he took wrestling and where he brought it. Who knows? Maybe that works for him. Doesn't make sense to me. Now a lot of the distributors are talking about dropping them.
"He's an animal man; he's a trailblazer." he went on. "It's hard to doubt Vince when you look at what he's done. When you talk about Vince's career and the things that he's done – the one thing that everyone says, 'XFL!' Okay, so, one thing he tried didn't work. When I was a little kid, I was watching Vince on TV as one of the commentators. That's how long this guy's been around and how long he's been kicking ass. So, good for him. I hope that it works out for him and I hope that it's successful for him."
White concluded by saying that he wishes McMahon and the WWE the best, even though that sentiment isn't always reciprocated.