LAS VEGAS • Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier intends to reclaim the belt he lost to Stipe Miocic when the two face off again in the main event of UFC 252 today.
But regardless of the result, the 41-year-old says that this time, he is retiring for good.
Cormier is returning to the octagon for a third fight against fellow American Miocic, from whom he won the heavyweight belt in 2018 only to lose it in the rematch just over a year later. It was then that the former light-heavyweight title holder first walked away from mixed martial arts (MMA).
He has not fought since last August and he believes he has accomplished everything in the sport.
"I'm going into the fight with the idea that this is the last time I'll walk into the octagon. I'm very excited," the Louisiana native said from his Las Vegas training camp.
"I'm content with my career. I've had as good a career as I ever could have expected, so win or lose - with all the intentions to win, as I do on Saturday - I think this will be the last time you see me fight in the UFC."
Cormier started out as a wrestler, winning the US National and Pan-American Championships and competing at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games before switching to MMA.
He went on to hold the UFC light-heavyweight and heavyweight titles simultaneously before retiring after his loss to Miocic to concentrate on his media career.
However, the promise of a trilogy fight and one last shot at glory has lured him back from his hiatus. To reclaim the belt, he will have to find a way of dealing with the crippling body shots that the 37-year-old Miocic hammered him with en route to a technical knockout win.
"Any time a punch like that lands as many times as it did in such a short time frame, of course you're going to worry about it a little bit," he said. "I just have to limit the damage on the shots that I take. We've been diligent in our preparation, knowing that he's going to try to go to that well again, and when he does, we have to... make him pay for throwing that body shot."
After 22 wins and two losses as a professional, Cormier says he will have no regrets when he retires.
"I'm blessed to have had so many opportunities to fight for championships as I have had."
REUTERS
MIOCIC V CORMIER
Prelims: Singtel TV Ch114 & StarHub Ch208, tomorrow, 6am.
