Daniel Cormier, a UFC Hall of Fame inductee and a mainstay on telecasts of UFC flagship events for years, has seen and heard practically everything regarding the sport, both pro and con. Recently, though, a boxing kingpin got under the skin of “DC” and the UFC roster.

Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs,) whose career highlights include championship victories in four weight divisions, ruffled more than a few feathers, including those of Daniel Cormier, when he challenged current UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) to a match inside the squared circle.

“Tell him to come fight me,” Stevenson said. “I don’t care. Tell him to come fight me. The skill level is different [in boxing.] In his comments, Shakur Stevenson also said that he did not believe that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones would be able to make it as a boxer.

Daniel Cormier Defends Joaquin Buckley’s Stance on Boxing Debate

These remarks by the undefeated Stevenson didn’t sit too well with UFC welterweight Joaquin Buckley (21-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC,) who defended the sport of MMA on social media earlier this week.

“Stop disrespecting us, bro,” Buckley said. “We are way more entertaining than y’all. If we came outside, I would kill you.”

In the latest episode of The Daniel Cormier Show, Cormier addressed Joaquin Buckley’s comments to Shakur Stevenson at the top of the program.

“You know, Shakur Stevenson said [that] the UFC could never be boxing,” Daniel Cormier began. “Joaquin Buckley was right. Like, it doesn’t have to be boxing, because the reality is there’s no big fights like there were in the past. I want [the UFC] to be the boxing of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. If I was trying to be boxing, I would want to be boxing of that era and of that time.”

Daniel Cormier on Current State of Boxing

When it comes to modern-day pugilism, Cormier didn’t mince words on the state of the sport.

“Boxing today isn’t necessarily what I would want to be and what it used to be,” he said, “because there just aren’t enough stars to make big fights. There aren’t enough big events to make us go back to the days when Ali was fighting, or when Tyson was fighting, or when you had the Four Kings and they were all fighting each other. I’m talking even the days of Lennox Lewis being the heavyweight champion, even the Klitschko brothers! It was different back then.”

“Those fights brought more attention back then and they felt bigger!,” Daniel Cormier continued. “I understand today that when Canelo [Alvarez] fought Terence Crawford, it felt like a big event, but honestly, whenever I get super excited for these boxing fights, until you get young, exciting prospects that want to go out there and try to knock people out like the guys from the past, you’re going to get the fight that we got where Terence Crawford, who showed once again why he is the best, he just controlled Canelo Alvarez, who’s the biggest star of this generation, and it is just not that fun, honestly.”

Final Thoughts: Daniel Cormier Right on the Money

Simply and succinctly put, the statements from Daniel Cormier in response to the comments made by Shakur Stevenson and Joaquin Buckley’s rebuttal  are most-accurate. The state of boxing in 2026 is different than it was several decades ago.

Gone are the days of USA Network airing Tuesday Night Fights most weeks, as well as the era of ABC’s Wide World of Sports showing edited for broadcast television versions of marquee boxing fights a few weeks after they were shown live on premium cable. ABC was supposed to have shown an event in 2007, but the card never materialized.

Even Bob Arum’s Top Rank is no longer on traditional television and hasn’t been since last July. Recent Top Rank shows have been streamed on the Top Rank Classics FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) channel. Boxing can’t survive solely on marquee names any longer. The sport has to give up-and-coming prospects their flowers, as well.