Daniel Cormier On Who Asked Him To Appear At WWE Extreme Rules

Daniel Cormier has opened up on how his recent WWE appearance came together, and how the initial contact wasn’t from the company’s management as you may expect.

A former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion, it was recently confirmed that Daniel Cormier would head to the world of professional wrestling to act as special guest referee for the Extreme Rules match between Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle, which is set to take place inside the Fight Pit.

In a discussion with ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, Daniel Cormier admitted that it was actually Seth Rollins who was the first to reach out to him about making the appearance, and gave his opinion on how he thinks the match will go.

So, it wasn’t really from the people in charge. It was Seth Rollins, he texted me goes, ‘Real life-fighting in the fight pit and we may be in the market for a special guest referee, would you have any interest in it? ‘So I said, Yeah, I’d be interested in doing it. I think that it’s fun. I think that what you guys have done has been a pleasure to watch.

I think it’s gonna be intense, I think that I can add to the story,’ because the reality is all you’re trying to do is add to the story, right? These guys that are professionals, they’re gonna make magic as they have done on so many occasions. So hopefully, I can add a little bit to what they’re doing in there. I said I’d be interested and put them in contact with my agent and then it just so happens that his wife and I shared the same agent. So it worked.

Having stepped away from active competition in UFC, Daniel Cormier is still tied to the company as a commentator and analyst, meaning he had to run the deal past the company’s President, Dana White.

I called Dana right away. He was like, ‘Dude, you in the WWE? How could I say no?’ He was like ‘I would never say no to you in the WWE. I know how much you enjoyed it.’ I enjoyed it. So yeah, they were all for it, man. UFC is all excited. I mean, honestly, and gave me permission to say UFC, you know, so I know that we don’t say different organizations. I will say UFC every time I’m out there.

With thanks to Fightful for the transcription.