US Olympic Wrestling Trials: Daniel Cormier Stands with Jordan Burroughs After Fans’ Backlash

For US fans to take a dig at Jordan Burroughs can sound unbelievable to many connoisseurs of the sport. However, that’s exactly what happened at the Bryce Jordan Center when the six-time world champ took on Penn State and NLWC’s heavyweight star Mitchell Mesenbrink in the US Olympic Wrestling Trial semifinal match.

Despite walking away from the match with an 8-3 decision win, the Olympian faced severe criticism from the fans for his actions on the mat. However, for former MMA fighter Daniel Cormier, Burroughs’ reputation still looks to remain as untainted as it ever was. The current UFC commentator rallied behind Burroughs to hit back at the fans, who found Jordan’s behavior unacceptable.

“The announcer said “Jordan needs to control himself” yea gtfo out of here. He didn’t do anything wrong“, wrote the 2007 World Championships bronze medalist Cormier in his latest post on X (previously known as Twitter). To highlight his thoughts further, the retired fighter seemed to sneer at one of the Penn State fans, who surmised that Burroughs’ antics at the US Olympic Wrestling Trials wouldn’t be well-received by the country’s wrestling fraternity.

Burroughs has been training hard to get back to his old 74kg weight class for a long time. However, fans weren’t prepared to see him lose his cool, considering his illustrious career on the highest levels for years. During the match against Mesenbrink of the NLWC in the semis, Burroughs seemed to vent out his frustration by throttling the latter’s head to the mat despite the referee calling a break. While the crowd booed Jordan’s actions, his long-time friend Daniel Cormier never faltered in his stand behind the Olympic champ.

Whose fault was it anyway?

Another social media post by FloWrestling after the Burroughs vs Mesenbrink match summarized all that happened during the bout that could have triggered Burroughs’ uncalled-for actions. The post claims that while the match was a highly anticipated one, the physical tryst between the wrestlers was not something that was in the minds of the fans. The accompanying video notes that the Penn State star set a physical tone for the match at the very beginning as he shoved Burroughs on the back several times. Hence, Jordan was bound to reach a “breaking point” down the line.

FloWrestling claimed that Mitchell refusing to let go of Jordan’s feet even after the whistle was blown several times didn’t sit will with the Olympic gold medalist and he reacted out of frustration. However, considering the high stakes, Mesenbrink was also trying everything in his power to tip the scales in his favor by any means possible. While his superior, and more experienced, opponent did walk away with the match as the winner, Mesenbrink also showed that he can go toe-to-toe with the country’s biggest names in the game.