Daniel Cormier talks Brock Lesnar and USADA: “I’m not going to fight this man if he’s cheating”

With his heavyweight title-winning knockout of Stipe Miocic in the rear-view, UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier can now look forward to a massive money-fight with former UFC champ and current WWE star Brock Lesnar. Cormier and Lesnar are expected to battle for the UFC heavyweight title sometime before the year is out.

Lesnar receiving a UFC heavyweight title shot is controversial for a number of reasons. There’s the fact that he hasn’t fought since 2016, and the fact that he hasn’t legitimately won a fight since 2010. And then, of course, there’s the fact that Lesnar failed a drug test after his last fight, a 2016 no-contest with Mark Hunt.

This latter detail is of particular importance to Daniel Cormier. While Cormier is thrilled at the possibility of fighting the superstar Lesnar, he says there will be no fight if Lesnar uses banned substances.

“Brock’s gotta be clean,” Cormier said at the UFC 226 post-fight press conference (via MMAJunkie). “I’m not going to fight him if he’s not clean. We’ll do USADA testing, and we’ll do other testing.”

“We’ll do testing above USADA to make sure this man’s clean,” Cormier added. “Because I’m not going to fight this man if he’s cheating. I’ve done that a number of times already.”

Cormier then touched on the appeal of a fight with a star like Lesnar, and explained why, despite Lesnar’s shady history, it’s a priority over a fight with a heavyweight contender like Curtis Blaydes, or a light heavyweight contender like Alexander Gustafsson.

“I’m at a point now where it’s going to be very difficult to fight a Curtis Blaydes,” he said. “I don’t even know who’s coming up at 205, to be honest with you – maybe if [Alexander] Gustafsson fights well in August. But last time Gustafsson and I fought, we made no money. He’s got all these fans, but nobody buys pay-per-views.”

“It’s weird,” Cormier said. “Do you want to go to war and make so much less money? If I fight Brock Lesnar, I’m getting paid. [Gustafsson’s] going to have to do something very special to earn a fight for the 205-pound belt.”

Do you think Daniel Cormier will topple Brock Lesnar when they fight?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/8/2018.