Daniel Cormier blasts PFL's latest claims 'It’s just not the truth' (Video)

Former UFC double champion Daniel Cormier is a company man and it doesn't look like that's changing anytime soon.

While appearing on The MMA Hour, Cormier took a big dig at The Professional Fighters League, following its acquisition of Bellator MMA.

“I don’t know how you’re going to be the co-leader,” Cormier said. “You’re not going to be the co-leader. I’m sorry. The UFC is the standard. The UFC is the standard. They’ve got too big a head start. The level of fighters is just too high and it’s a well-oiled machine."

After the merger PFL Founder Donn Davis spoke at length about the PFL's positioning in combat sports, calling itself the "co-leader" in MMA and rival only to the UFC.

“It’s just not the truth," he said in response to the claims.

“People will say, ‘Oh, this guy is a company man!’ Yes. They write me checks, a lot. [Laughs] But here’s the deal, the UFC has developed a product that is so far ahead of everything else, it’s crazy. From the production side to the personnel and staff side, to the fighters, there’s nothing that compares. It’s not close, and it’s not going to be close.”

Cormier is all too familiar with the merging of companies as he was a part fo Strikeforce, who the UFC eventually purchased. At the time, Strikeforce and the UFC were the No. 1 and No. 2 MMA promotions, but not comparable. Much like how Cormier views the UFC and PFL now.

"When I was in Strikeforce in the beginning, I remember we would be on CBS, and I would just rush to find the ratings to see how it did," he said. "I had to know how it did, because you wanted to feel like it was catching up, or you were on that level, because you knew, back then, UFC numbers were crazy. Pay-Per-View numbers they were doing back then were crazy. You were like, ‘Man, if Strikeforce can do 5 million views on cable, that’s a big number.' And it was not ever really that. But you always looked for some sort of metric that put you on the same level as the UFC, and there’s really just not any. From crowd attendance to gates to PPVs, there’s just not a metric that’s going to show that you’re on that level.”

The PFL hosted an end of the year card crowning six champions in total. PPV numbers for that event have not been released.