LAS VEGAS – There are a few rewards that come with a massive win like two-division champion Daniel Cormier’s at UFC 226.

One of them, or at least that’s what UFC president Dana White expects, is some recognition as “one of the best of all time.”

“I think that what this does is, (it) finally gives him the respect that he deserves,” White said at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

To get to that conclusion, though, White first retraced Cormier’s (21-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) impressive road toward capturing the UFC’s heavyweight crown with the first-round knockout of Stipe Miocic (18-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) in Saturday’s pay-per-view headliner.

Then-unbeaten Cormier joined the UFC in 2013 as a heavyweight, but made the drop to the 205-pound weight class in a decision that had a lot to do with  friend and teammate Cain Velasquez – who, for a while, reigned over the promotion’s heaviest division.

Cormier failed at his first light heavyweight title stab, losing a decision to Jon Jones, but captured the vacant belt after Jones was stripped of it. Cormier would only lose again in July 2017, when a rematch with Jones finally materialized, but ended up being reinstated after Jones failed a drug test. The loss was overturned.

Cormier’s run has been, by all accounts, remarkable. But, amid the Jones matchups that happened and even the ones that didn’t, with the bad blood that brewed in between, Cormier’s name seemed to become somewhat attached to that of his nemesis.

“Jon Jones is, in my opinion, if not the, one of the greatest of all time – could be the,” White said. “The potential that Jon Jones had, who knows what he could have done at heavyweight and everything else. So (Cormier’s) got the shadow of Jon Jones.”

That is, until Cormier returns to heavyweight and decisively knocks out the man White dubbed “the best heavyweight in UFC history.” As previously stated, White believes that should be enough to earn Cormier some respect. But it also brought along a more palpable reward: a big fight, and certainly a big pay day, against former UFC champion and WWE star Brock Lesnar.

It all “couldn’t happen to a better guy,” White said, before praising the dual champ’s contribution as an ambassador for the sport and also as a great presence on television as a fight analyst. While White couldn’t say “enough good things” about the guy, he sure gave it a good try.

“He’s such a unique guy in every way, shape and form,” White said. “He’s so articulate. He’s a really smart guy. I love the way, when he’s commentating, how he can break down a fight and explain it to you. It’s almost like (Joe) Rogan. He’s so good. He’s great at interviewing people. Then you talk about him as a fighter, right? He definitely doesn’t look like a fighter. Looks out of shape, looks heavy. When you think about him going in there now with a heavyweight, if you notice in the beginning of the fight, every shot he landed on Stipe was busting Stipe up. Both his eyes, his nose.

“He’s got a lot more power than he gets credit for. When he goes in against somebody, wrestling, the slam that he had on Dan Henderson … to do that to a guy like Dan Henderson? Holy (expletive). He’s just such a well-rounded, incredible human being.”

Of course, not everyone is as happy about the Cormier vs. Lesnar meeting as the parties that will directly benefit from it. Heavyweight stand-out Curtis Blaydes, for instance, saw his hopes of becoming a No. 1 contender lifted and crushed within a two-fight span on Saturday and made his dissatisfaction with that fact clear.

Considering Lesnar’s sole octagon outing in six years, a UFC 200 encounter with Mark Hunt in July 2016, ended up being overturned into a no-contest after Lesnar failed a pair of drug tests by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, there’s bound to be some level of criticism coming from other places, too.

To that, though, White has a simple answer.

“People are going to criticize us no matter what we do,” White said. “But Brock came in, he popped for that thing, but he beat Mark Hunt, who’s one of the top guys, is a former world champion. And it’s a fight that people want to see. And it’s definitely a fight that Cormier wants. Cormier wants that fight. And I guarantee if Stipe won, he would have wanted that fight, too.”

That Cormier wants the fight is clear. The timeline for it, however, remains unknown, as Lesnar would have to re-enter USADA’s testing pool and serve the remainder of his suspension. That would only allow the ex-champ to return around mid-to-late January next year.

With plans to retire before March 2019, though, Cormier would like to make the most of the octagon time he has left. Meaning, a light-heavyweight title defense some time this year would work.

In other occasions, perhaps White could be worried about spoiling what could be a massive fight. But it seems that’s yet another thing that Cormier has earned.

“He’s the guy I would let do that,” White said.

To hear from White, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC 226, check out the UFC Events section of the site.