Daniel Cormier gets brutally honest about Dana White's decision regarding Arman Tsarukyan's next fight after UFC 311 withdrawal

Dana White is no fan of last-minute withdrawals, and his decision to withhold an immediate title shot for Arman Tsarukyan has drawn Daniel Cormier's attention. UFC 311 was meant to be Tsarukyan's first crack at UFC gold, as he was scheduled to face Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title.

Unfortunately, Tsarukyan withdrew from the bout with just 24 hours left, forcing the promotion to scramble in search of a willing opponent for Makhachev. While the UFC settled on Renato Moicano, who was set to face Beneil Dariush, it was not ideal. Despite it all, Cormier, a company man, disagrees with White's stance.

The UFC Hall of Famer covered the events of UFC 311 on a recent YouTube video, saying the following about White's assertion that Tsarukyan must re-earn a title shot:

"I believe that it still needs to be Tsarukyan because I believe that Tsarukyan, even though it's a rematch and even though we know Charles [Oliveira] is supposed to be next, I still feel like Tsarukyan's size, his abilities, his skill-set, could present the biggest problems for Islam Makhachev."

It isn't an unreasonable assessment from Cormier. Makhachev has struggled in the past with shorter opponents with a strong wrestling base, and Tsarukyan, who is just 5 feet 7 inches tall, fits the bill.

"You know this guy. I mean, look at what he does to the rest. He has submitted or finished so many of the best lightweights in the world. So, right now, he's in the midst of, think about this, he finished Oliveira to become the champ. He finished Volkanovski in the rematch. He finished Dustin Poirier in his last title defense, and now he's finished Renato Moicano."

Check out Daniel Cormier disagreeing with Dana White (1:56):

Despite Cormier's defense of Tsarukyan, the man himself appears to agree with White that he must win one or two fights to re-earn the title shot he squandered.

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Dana White has a difficult situation at lightweight

Besides Arman Tsarukyan, who is ranked No.1, there is no clear-cut lightweight contender for Dana White to name as Islam Makhachev's next title challenger. Everyone else in the top five is in a poor position. Charles Oliveira has just one win since losing to Tsarukyan himself and is 2-2 in his last four fights.

Among those two losses was him getting finished by Makhachev. Then there is Justin Gaethje, who lost in devastating fashion last year. Dustin Poirier just lost to the Dagestani star, and Max Holloway was just knocked out by featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.