Getty Daniel Cormier
Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier revealed a situation that could lead him back inside the Octagon.
Cormier, 43, retired in August 2020 after dropping a second straight heavyweight title fight to Stipe Miocic. In his time, “DC” captured both the UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight straps and was inducted into the promotion’s Hall of Fame last month.
In conjunction with Money Energy, Cormier spoke about the possibility of fighting again via Twitter Spaces on July 15. And even though DC isn’t actively looking to compete, he showed interest in batting current 205-pound king Jiri Prochazka.
“I said this when I retired, I said I’m only going to fight for championship belts,” Cormier said Sportskeeda.com. “But it’s like, I don’t deserve a heavyweight championship fight. Stipe is not the champ. He beat me the last couple times. I don’t deserve a shot at the heavyweight title. If I was ever going to fight again — which I don’t want to — I would have to go all the way back to 205 pounds.”
“Why? Let me tell you why,” Cormier continued. “Because I didn’t lose. Remember, I vacated. I didn’t want to go back down there when Jones was gonna fight Gustafsson, so because I vacated the title now, maybe there is some potential in it: ‘Hey Dana (White), you think I could fight Jiri Prochazka for the title?'”
Cormier Said It’s Not ‘Impossible’ That He Could Win a UFC Championship Again & If the Opportunity Should Arise, ‘It Better Happen Soon’
When DC was asked if he’d seriously come out of retirement to capture light heavyweight gold again, he replied: “I don’t want to, but I would have to. I mean if I had the desire to fight and I wanted to try to accomplish something great one more time, then it would require that [going back down to light heavyweight] because there just is no title fight in heavyweight. I don’t deserve a title fight in heavyweight.”
“If it ever happens, it better happen soon. I’m 44 years old in March. But hey, Randy Couture won the heavyweight championship 45, so not impossible.”
DC Is Touted as One of the Greatest Fighters Ever
Cormier won his first UFC title in May 2015 when he bested Anthony Johnson for the vacant light heavyweight strap. In his next three bouts, he defended the belt twice while also picking up a win over former UFC middleweight king Anderson Silva.
He was beaten by Jon Jones at UFC 214 in July 2017, but after the match was overturned to a no-contest, Cormier retained his championship. He’d go on to defend the belt one more time before leaving the weight class for the heavyweight division.
In July 2018, Cormier became a simultaneous two-division champion by knocking out Stipe Miocic at UFC 230. Then, DC earned a heavyweight title defense against Derrick Lewis before losing two fights to Miocic, which ultimately led to his retirement in 2020.
Cormier is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time. He has a professional mixed martial arts record of 22-3 with one no-contest. All in all, he’s earned 10 wins via KO/TKO, five by submission and seven via decision.