“I Was Wrong…” After Arman Tsarukyan, UFC Legend Made to Eat Own Word as Ilia Topuria ‘Family Money’ Theory Disproven

MMA analyst and former double champion Daniel Cormier catches fire for wrong claims that Ilia Topuria comes from wealthy background.

“I Was Wrong…” After Arman Tsarukyan, UFC Legend Made to Eat Own Word as Ilia Topuria ‘Family Money’ Theory Disproven

Daniel Cormier is under fire for claims that Ilia Topuria had wealthy upstart (Source: X)

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Ilia Topuria makes it a point that he remains the talk of ‘Fight’ town with his overt confidence, and then delivers on it. The former 145-pound champion relinquished his title for a second belt. Topuria achieved his dreams with devastating knockout at UFC 317. However, his daring success has made Daniel Cormier looking closely at ‘El Matador.’

Ilia Topuria’s stride in success has made him the #1 pound-for-pound name on the roster, after the UFC 317 PPV main event. Daniel Cormier’s buddy and former longtime 155-pound kingpin Islam Makhachev lost his P4P throne to Topuria. El Matador’s whole move to 155-pounds drove up the stock with talks of a surefire fight and a skills test/unheralded grappling against combat sambo master Makhachev.

The fight world is never not gaping at the success of Ilia Topuria, with him making it big. Some pundits and fight analysts also seem to acknowledge internal push from UFC execs behind him being a multi-division champ would go a long way.

In the episode of ESPN MMA’s “Good Guy / Bad Guy,” following UFC 317, Daniel Cormier emphasized a crucial element that sets the upcoming bout between Ilia Topuria and lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan apart from any other title fight. It’s that they (supposedly) don’t even need to fight, and both come from money, and yet this is now the fight to make.

I come to find out,… [that] Ilia’s got family money. Ilia’s rich! …Hey, Ilia’s got family money and then Tsarukyan, yo I saw Tsaruyan just housing thousand-dollar-a-bite of caviar….He’s just housing caviar, Arman’s rich! Could you imagine two rich dudes fighting for a UFC title? Two rich dudes that didn’t get their money in fighting would be the craziest thing because rich dudes don’t fight.

Daniel Cormier via ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ Show (@ESPNMMA) for ESPN2/ ESPNPodcenter

Tsarukyan’s family wealth is a much well-known tidbit about the fighter at this point, even though he has recently dubbed that there are restrictions to it all. Those vying a top shot, like Dan Hooker and Paddy Pimblett have often sparked a diss with how loaded the Armenian is.

Pimblett seems like a very obvious choice for the Spaniard’s first 155-pound title defense, and Tsarukyan is driving up points as to why it should be him. The Armenian lightweight also weighed in as backup for UFC 317. Per ‘DC’, the polarizing rich-dude clash given one is wrestling-heavy and another a pure standup master, could be the one to go to.

However, fan forums and X users were quick to jibe at Cormier’s claims. An old footage with (formerly) MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani went viral again, where Topuria said how he worked four odd jobs to make ends meet, that is, until he made it big. Fans pointed out his wife Giorgina Uzcategui Badell was from a wealthy background and not him. This led to some online uproar, not boding well for the veteran.

Daniel Cormier blames MMA’s ‘Bad Guy’ for claiming Ilia Topuria came from wealthy background

Fight fans were quick to point out that Ilia Topuria didn’t always carry the fame with him he has now. There are viral pictures of him on public forums, working beach bartender jobs, and at cheap MMA clubs. Some have also billed that El Matador not coming from riches is exactly why the family moved from Georgia to Germany, and then to Spain, where he now has permanent residence.

Daniel Cormier apologized for his take on Ilia Topuria
Daniel Cormier apologized for his take on Ilia Topuria (Source: X)

Some labeled Daniel Cormier a weirdo for blatantly spreading of wrong information; others claimed the veteran ‘DC’ was ‘clearly’ jealous, as public forums would have it. His friendship with Islam Makhachev surely will not do any favors for the UFC Hall of Famer.

Although some fans backed up Daniel Cormier, stating that he wasn’t wrong to say that Ilia Topuria is (now) wealthy because of his marriage, the UFC legend still took heat. Who to blame for it, then? His ESPN co-host Chael Sonnen, of course!

Damn I was wrong. I think Chael told me this and I should know better than to listen to Chael! He got me again.

Daniel “DC” Cormier via X

Chael Sonnen is notorious for spreading so many false stories. At one point, he promised MMA fans that Tom Aspinall would indeed fight Jon Jones before ‘Bones’ departs from the sport. However, Jones retired and left the superfight in limbo. Most hardcore MMA fans know about Sonnen exaggerating information to create hype, but Cormier believed this false theory about Ilia Topuria without a second thought.

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