WWE/UFC News: Daniel Cormier to enter the Royal Rumble?

What’s the story?

As reported by Sports Illustrated, UFC Champion Daniel Cormier has expressed his desire of entering the 2018 Royal Rumble.

Expounding on his wish, Cormier asserted that although he’d like to participate in the WWE Royal Rumble, it’s doubtful that WWE invites him to the same.

In case you didn’t know…

Daniel Cormier is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in the history of MMA.

Cormier is a former Olympic wrestler who entered MMA late in his athletic career but achieved considerable success nonetheless. ‘DC’ is also a huge professional wrestling fan, and was once famously seen cheering his acquaintance Seth Rollins during the latter’s ‘Heist of the Century’ at Wrestlemania 31.

The heart of the matter

Daniel Cormier stated the following regarding possibly entering the WWE Royal Rumble next month—

“I wish I could be in the Royal Rumble this year (2018).”

"I don’t think they will invite me, but fighting against Oezdemir in Boston works for me, time-wise. My fight is in January, which opens up WrestleMania for me this New Orleans–not to compete, but to go.”

Furthermore, Cormier emphasized that he does have a UFC Light-Heavyweight title defence scheduled next month against widely-feared KO artists Volkan Oezdemir; which could make it tough for him to partake in the Royal Rumble.

What’s next?

Daniel Cormier defends his UFC Light-Heavyweight Championship against Volkan ‘No Time’ Oezdemir at UFC 220 on January 20th, with the event taking place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The card will be headlined by a UFC Heavyweight Championship match between reigning titlist Stipe Miocic and challenger Francis Ngannou.

Meanwhile, the WWE’s Royal Rumble PPV goes down at the very same venue on January 28th, and as is ‘Rumble tradition, will likely see a few surprise entrants in the Royal Rumble matchup.

Author’s take

Daniel Cormier is entertainment personified, and with his MMA career winding down, a potential move to the WWE could be on the cards for DC.

That said, his UFC 220 opponent is an extremely dangerous striker, and it’s safe to say that DC or anyone for that matter would likely be pretty banged up after a fight with Volkan Oezdemir. Here’s hoping Cormier can at the very least attend the Royal Rumble PPV after his title fight.