Daniel Cormier. (Getty)
A frustrated Daniel Cormier is sick and tired of waiting around for UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic to make up his mind about the two rivals’ assumed third fight later this year, so Cormier used his huge platform on ESPN’s “DC and Helwani” show on Monday to demand that Miocic sign his part of the contact.
“Come on, Champ. Sign the contract. Let’s go. What are you doing? It’s nonsense,” Cormier said.
Cormier stopped Miocic in the first round for the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 226 in July 2018, but Miocic returned the favor 13 months later via fourth-round stoppage at UFC 241. With the two stalwart UFC athletes knotted now at 1-1, Cormier, 41, a former Olympic wrestler and the second-ever UFC “champ champ” is ready to lock horns with Miocic for the third time.
In fact, Cormier wants just one more fight before he retires and if the future Hall of Famer has his way, it will be against Miocic in August for the UFC heavyweight title.
‘The Right Way to Go Out’
“I’m going to fight Stipe Miocic one last time and then I’m going to be done with this whole thing,” Cormier revealed last week to USA Wrestling. “I love this sport. I’m a competitive guy. Getting away from competition is going to be tough but I know that to win the heavyweight championship again is the right way to go out.”
So Cormier believes getting his final fight to be against Miocic will allow him to retire as the UFC’s heavyweight champion, one who moved up in weight to face the fighter some MMA insiders have debated over being the greatest UFC heavyweight of all-time.
Cormier also won the UFC light heavyweight title, though he never could quite get the upper hand against Jon Jones at 205 pounds. Cormier is winless against Jones in two tries though one of the losses was turned over after Jones failed a drug test.
Regardless, Cormier believes he’s simply the better fighter at heavyweight than Miocic is, and he wants the chance to prove it before he retires.
You can watch Cormier’s entire plea below.
“Come on, Champ. Sign the contract. Let’s go. What are you doing? It’s nonsense.”
@dc_mma tells @arielhelwani he’s “a better fighter” than Stipe Miocic and wants to prove it with a trilogy fight in August.
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Miocic Not Focused on Fighting During COVID-19
Cormier’s frustration seems to stem from Miocic’s unwillingness at the present to ponder who his next title defense might be against and when it might happen. In fact, the 37-year-old champ told MMA Junkie last week that he wasn’t going to think about anything right now other than fulfilling his duties as a first responder.
“I’m not worried about any of that,” Miocic said. “Right now, I’m worried about what’s going on in the world. Fighting is not going away. It’s always going to be there. We’ve got to get rid of this thing that’s going on and make everyone feel safe again [to] be able to live a normal life.”
So while Miocic is the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, he’s also an Ohio firefighter on the front line battling the coronavirus pandemic and the latter of those things seems to be more important to him right now.
That might not make Cormier happy, but it sure does make a whole lot of sense.
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Twitter: @Kelsey_McCarson