Drakkar
Klose jovially accused Daniel
Cormier of dissing him following his UFC 301
win over Joaquim
Silva.
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Klose earned a hard-fought unanimous decision win over Silva in
front of the Brazilian’s home crowd in Rio de Janeiro. In his
post-fight interview, Klose accused Cormier of taking a diss at
him, which “DC” denied.
Klose later explained his accusations in the post-fight press
conference. Klose was fulfilling media duties earlier in the week
when he called out Paul Felder.
Cormier, who was also present on the occasion, said that all Klose
would do in potential fight against Felder would be to hold “The
Irish Dragon” against the cage.
While Klose emphatically won the first round against Silva, the
later rounds were quite closely contested. Klose was admittedly
reminded of Cormier’s dig at him as he clinched Sliva against the
cage for a substantial part of the later rounds.
“I had called Paul Felder out and he [Cormier] was like, ‘All he’s
[Klose] is gonna do is hold you [Felder] against the cage.’ And as
I was holding him [Silva] against the cage, I was like, ‘F—k, this
is what ‘DC’ was talking about,’” Klose said during a post-fight media scrum.
Klose would still be open to a fight against Felder, who hasn’t
competed since November 2020.
“I wouldn’t mind fighting him. He’s been off for a while, so he
might be the easiest fight,” Klose said.
Klose also admitted that it was the excessive clinching which made
him tired going into the final round.
“What you said I was gonna do to Paul Felder, held him [Silva]
against the cage, that gassed me out,” Klose told Cormier in the
Octagon. “I wasn’t planning on doing it but he’s tough; he’s
tough.”
Silva also called out former foe Beneil
Dariush and Jalin
Turner in his post-fight Octagon interview and further
explained those choices during a post-fight media scrum.
“Beneil, he has a win. He beat me. I would love to get that back,”
Klose said. “And Turner, I just don’t believe he deserves to be in
the Top 15.”