Daniel Cormier reacts to Usman Nurmagomedov becoming Bellator lightweight champion, dethroning Patricky Pitbull

Daniel Cormier recently gave his take on the Bellator lightweight title fight between Usman Nurmagomedov and Patricky Freire at Bellator 288. Nurmagomedov became the first fighter from Dagestan to become a champion in Bellator after a dominant performance against 'Pitbull'.

Commending his friend and teammate Nurmagomedov's performance, Cormier tweeted:

"Pit bull has thrown 35 punches or strikes over the course of 15 minutes. And landed 12. He’s stuck, he can’t figure how to attack Usman. He’s getting outclassed."

After the bout, Cormier praised the Dagestani, writing:

"Usman a bad boy!"

Daniel Cormier's long-standing friendship with fellow UFC Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov is well-known. The pair trained together at the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) back when Cormier was still active. AKA head coach Javier Mendez trains Nurmagomedov's Russian brethren to this day.

Usman Nurmagomedov, cousin of the former UFC lightweight champion, earned the Bellator 155-pound strap in just his fifth fight in the promotion, just under a month after teammate Islam Makhachev claimed the UFC lightweight title.

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Javier Mendez on the relationship between Daniel Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov

Javier Mendez recently opened up about the relationship between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Daniel Cormier. Both former UFC champions credit much of their success inside the octagon to Mendez, who has also trained the likes of former UFC champions Cain Velasquez and Luke Rockhold.

Nurmagomedov and Cormier share a unique bond. Despite the language barrier early on in the former's UFC run, videos of the AKA duo arguing in broken English spread like wildfire on social media. To this day, they continue to lovingly poke fun at each other every time they meet.

During his appearance on the Jibber with Jabber podcast, Mendez labeled the chemistry between 'DC' and 'The Eagle' as "unreal":

"The Khabib and DC chemistry is like unreal. I mean, everybody always sees that... Always from the get-go. Every time with DC, he'd go into the Dagestani language. You know he wouldn’t speak correct english and DC would go into their language."

Mendez added:

"Their relationship is based on DC bringing himself down and Khabib accepting and bringing himself up... It's mutual. It works really well."

Watch the full interview below: