Dominick Reyes doubles down on criticism of 'lazy' Daniel Cormier: 'He doesn't do the research and work'

Dominick Reyes is done letting the UFC’s commentary booth go by unchecked.Reyes was among the many notable performances this past Saturday at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi. The two-time light heavyweight title challenger closed out the preliminary portion of the card with a stellar first-round knockout of Azamat Murzakanov, getting him back on a win streak. It wasn't until hours after the fight, though, that he sat down to watch it back, and he was none too pleased to hear Daniel Cormier's commentary in particular.On Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show," Reyes explained his social media lambasting of Cormier, which he said was in response to the latter's off-base comments during his Murzakanov fight."You have a tendency to be a little biased," Reyes told Uncrowned of Cormier. "You look at all the other sports in the world — extremely professional [commentary], extremely prepared and ready to go. It's color commentary. It's not just talking about meat pies during the fight."The whole thing is just me holding them accountable. The only people in the whole UFC that are never held accountable is the announcers. So it's time."Reyes, 36, hasn't necessarily been fixating on his dissatisfaction with the UFC’s commentary, he said. Yet he's bitten his tongue after noticing these issues over the years.In his recent fight, specifically, Reyes couldn't help but speak out after the culmination of broadcast errors he believes were made."I've watched fights my whole life, and I've heard them say some outlandish things, and I'm like, ‘You're just going to get away with that? Nobody's going to check them on that, ever?’" Reyes said. "But we do something in the cage, or something happens, and everybody's talking about it and writing about it. So I'm like, hey, why don't we put the pressure back on the media, back on the commentary to be great at what you do. Not just good."Cormier responded to Reyes’ gripes with a handful of follow-up posts Saturday. The UFC Hall of Famer defended himself and later highlighted what he believes was the issue in a standalone tweet, but Reyes noted that Cormier was only partially right when he mentioned an edited highlights package released by Paramount.This is what pissed Dom off Paramount+ edits their replays into “highlights”. DC’s quotes : “Everybody had wrote this kid off”“He went on a bit of a losing streak, was not fighting well….and he came back and started knocking people out. Putting himself right back with the…— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) October 25, 2026Coincidentally, Cormier spent a majority of his career competing at 205 pounds, while Reyes has been a mainstay of the division. So a fight would be the easiest solution to this beef if Cormier were still active. But Reyes clarified that he has no personal problem with Cormier. He just wants to see people in his role deliver the best quality possible."I have no problem with him; I just want him to do better. Bottom line: Do better," Reyes said. "I'm not mad and attacking him. It's, hey, we need to do better. Overall. This is its own thing now. It's not directly you. Everybody in the broadcast booth needs to be on notice now that they need to actually show up, and do their research and ready to go, because if not, Dom's YouTube channel is right there, and I'm going to be calling you out. That's all it is."A handful of things make Cormier's commentary stand out to Reyes. For starters, being considered one of the sport's all-time greats gives Cormier an easy excuse to be lazy with preparation, Reyes believes. Additionally, Cormier has a notable history of training with some of the sport's best Russian and Dagestani fighters, like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. Because of that, Reyes has seen what he believes is a clear bias from Cormier whenever Russian fighters compete and he's on the call."[Cormier] was a great fighter, and I'm not saying he wasn't a great fighter," Reyes said. "As a commentator, he slacks off because he lives off of his double champ status. It seems like he doesn't do the research and work because he's 'double champ' Daniel Cormier."It's been years and years of him being biased [toward Russian fighters]."With some time to process the fallout from his win and his back-and-forth with Cormier, Reyes did admit that he was a bit out of line in certain respects."I will say, I did come off a little hard on Daniel, and I'm sorry for that, calling him low IQ and stuff like that," Reyes said. "I was in the heat of the moment, and I do apologize for that. The other things, I stand by what I said, but I'm sorry for attacking you directly. Truly."My initial heat was a little hot. That's not my character or who I really am. I was just in the moment. Other than that, I stand by what I said. You’ve got to be more prepared, my guy."Reyes intends to continue calling out issues he sees with videos on his YouTube channel. Meanwhile, he'll do his best to fight his way back to a light heavyweight title shot.