Daniel Cormier has left no stone unturned going into the final bout of his storied career.
No matter how his heavyweight title fight trilogy with champion Stipe Miocic unfolds at UFC 252, Cormier knows he’ll have done everything right as he closes the door on high-level athletic competition.
Retirement has been a topic of discussion with Cormier (22-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC) for the better part of three years. After taking the heavyweight title from Miocic (19-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) in their first bout in July 2018 at UFC 226, he viewed the rematch at UFC 241 in August 2019 as the perfect moment to ride off into the sunset.
Then he lost the belt.
Cormier has pushed his retirement timeline back to accommodate one final meeting with Miocic. UFC president Dana White has said the Aug. 15 headliner, which takes place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, will determine the greatest heavyweight in MMA history.
There’s already talk from the likes of White that Cormier could continue beyond UFC 252 if he so chooses. DC doesn’t deny that notion but said his time has come. Cormier knows a truly special opportunity sits before him, and he won’t allow himself to succumb to any temptation.
“I just believe that, at a point, I have to say money is money, and I’ve made a lot of it, and there’s going to always be more money,” Cormier told MMA Junkie. “If it’s in my heart that this is it then I have to stand firm in that knowing there’s going to be opportunities. You can be the best in the world, and you can always be the best in the world until you’re not. Eventually some time and someone will catch up to you, and I’m just making sure I get the chance to go out on top.
“I’ve won a lot. I’ve been a lucky guy in the sport, and the ability and opportunity to go out on top is unheard of. We see Georges St-Pierre constantly getting asked to come back and just the other day he says, ‘I went out on top. People don’t get that.’ I have that opportunity, and I think if I can complete this task, it’s as big as anything I’ve ever done.”
Renewed focus
Although the coronavirus pandemic has forced adaptation to the sports world as a whole, Cormier said his preparation for UFC 252 actually has been immaculate. He’s surrounded himself with a combination of familiar coaches and some new faces in the year since he last shared the octagon with Miocic, and that’s allowed him to make the necessary adjustments to win.
Cormier stopped Miocic by first-round knockout in the original meeting, and the rematch was going his way, too. Well, until it wasn’t.
After Cormier controlled the opening three rounds, Miocic made a brilliant adjustment in the fourth and started attacking the body. The strikes quickly added up, and Cormier’s protection of his head weakened. Miocic went upstairs and finished the fight, becoming the first man to beat Cormier in heavyweight competition.
In late 2019, Cormier teamed up with boxing legend George Foreman to address defensive issues. More recently, he’s spent time with noted coach Mark Henry to dissect tactics. Those new relationships only complimented the work Cormier’s longtime coaches at American Kickboxing Academy, such as Javier Mendez, Bob Cook and Rosendo Sanchez, have put into setting him up for success in the trilogy.
At 41, Cormier said he’s well aware his body isn’t what it used to be. He’s far removed from the back surgery he feels hindered him in the rematch and said the goal was to push himself as hard as possible in preparation for UFC 252. If his body failed him along the way, he would take it as a sign.
“When we went into this training camp, I told Bob Cook: ‘If we go into training camp, and the back starts to get tight and I get hurt and I can’t get through this training camp in the way we need it to be, then we just won’t fight,’” Cormier said. “It’s not going to be, ‘Let’s cut back on this, or if it’s hurting let’s stop. Let’s not do that.’ Let’s go and try to do a training camp in the way that we’ve always done, and if the body holds up, the body holds up. If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. I think things are as good as they’re ever going to be, and it’s the perfect time for a trilogy fight.”
Summer blockbusters
Daniel Cormier (red gloves) and Stipe Miocic at UFC 241.
The trilogy between Cormier and Miocic is truly and uniquely special. For Miocic, he becomes the first fighter in UFC history to face the same opponent in three consecutive bouts. Cormier, meanwhile, is essentially in the same boat, sans a short-notice title defense against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 in November 2018.
Spending three consecutive years directing physical and mental energy to one person can be both taxing and tricky. Cormier relishes the uncommon elements of it all, though, and he said the in-depth understanding he’s gained about Miocic has changed his perspective on his rival.
“It’s odd,” Cormier said. “I remember when I was first asked about fighting Stipe Miocic I never would’ve thought that it would’ve turned into this. Three straight summers I’ve spent preparing for him. I feel very familiar with Stipe and the things he wants to do. I feel very familiar with his approach and honestly, over the course of three years you gain – I’ve got a bigger level of respect for him and his abilities today opposed to when I first took the fight or going into the second fight.
“You learn a lot about a person when they become your sole focus for so long. I think when you train for someone for three years, and the fights are going the way that they go, obviously your relationship changes. I think Stipe and I before were pretty cordial, maybe even friends. But now it’s a little bit different. I do believe when it’s all said and done I will not harbor any bad emotions toward him.”
Throughout his career, Cormier has been part of some of the biggest moments in MMA history. The portion of his career involving Jon Jones will go down as one of the most venomous feuds the sport has ever seen, and the trilogy with Miocic is shaping up to stand alongside the greatest three-part series of all time.
The fights with Jones might have been bigger and resonated deeper with fans because of the hatred and talent level of the two athletes. The “competitive animosity” with Miocic runs deeper for Cormier, though, and he expects this series to be the defining period of his career.
“I think (this is career defining),” Cormier said. “We had three fights, and I intend on winning the third fight and the trilogy. It will be difficult for me to ever be completely free of that rivalry with Jones because it was so big. We sold so much pay-per-view, and the rivalry was so nasty. We were so nasty with each other, and the general public paid attention. But competitively this is the one that I love, because I’m fighting a guy that has done and stood for the right things and has competed in the right way. Jones is a fantastic competitor, and I feel like still, he brought the best out of me in terms of my preparation. But I believe Stipe Miocic has done the same thing now.”
The previous fights between Cormier and Miocic have offered two different looks. The first bout ended in a flash, with Cormier surprising Miocic with a massive punch off a clinch break that sent him crashing to the canvas. In the rematch, Cormier struck well and used more wrestling in the early going, but then his conditioning abandoned him, and Miocic tweaked his strategy to capitalize for the knockout.
Cormier said he doesn’t necessarily expect the rubber match to look like either previous bout. He’s vowed to put his wrestling background to use and believes the smaller sized octagon at the UFC Apex plays tremendously to his benefit.
Although closing his career with a spectacular finish would make for something of a fairy tale moment, Cormier said he’s anticipating the most grueling scenario.
“I think it goes 25 minutes if both of us are as prepared as we say we are,” Cormier said. “I’m going to do more things. I think Stipe did a fantastic job making those adjustments, but the reality is I was so tired in that second fight the exhaustion got me. Obviously getting hit by a guy like that does ware on you, but I couldn’t even think to do the correct defenses I was so exhausted, and that’s sad. I just need to do what I’m supposed to do out there, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
What about retirement?
Cormier has made no secret of his plan to retire from MMA. It didn’t unfold under the circumstances he’d originally intended, but it’s finally happening at UFC 252 – win, lose or draw. It’s going to be an emotional night for Cormier, he said, but he’s not thinking about the minutiae of it all.
There’s a strong level of tunnel vision, Cormier said, and anything outside of executing his game plan is trivial. He doesn’t know if he’s going to laugh, cry, leave his gloves in the center of the octagon, hand the belt back to White or any other little moments that could come with retiring in that particular instance.
All Cormier cares about is achieving that final moment of glory that’ll allow him to enter the next stage of his life – as a father, husband, coach, media personality, and more – with complete peace of mind.
“I’m so focused on the fight,” Cormier said. “I’m not thinking about the aftermath. I’m not thinking about the theatrics and all the things that go into making a moment that will play (forever). I’m not thinking about that. I’m just thinking about the most joyous thing, is getting the belt wrapped around my waist. That’s it. The way that I’ve spent so much of my career, I want it to happen one more time, and that’s all I can really think about.
“I’m not really thinking about if my gloves are going to come off. I’ve never even thought about that for a second. It’s just go win the fight and you do that, everything else is just icing on the cake.”
Daniel Cormier's pursuit of fairy tale ending arrives at defining UFC 252 trilogy
