Daniel Cormier believes he deviated from the game plan in his rematch with Stipe Miocic.
Last night (Aug. 17), Cormier took on Miocic in the main event of UFC 241. Back in July 2018, Cormier captured the heavyweight title by knocking out Miocic in the first round. Miocic got his revenge, stopping Cormier in the rematch to reclaim the championship.
Daniel Cormier Speaks On UFC 241 Loss
Cormier spoke to reporters during the UFC 241 post-fight press conference. “DC” discussed why he believes Miocic was able to catch him (via BJPenn.com).
“(Wrestling) was the strategy,” Cormier said. “That’s probably the biggest letdown, is how I let my coaches down. They were begging me to wrestle, and that’s probably the most disappointing thing. I didn’t do what I was trained to do, and I feel like I let my coaches down.”
Cormier went on to compare his bout with Miocic to the one he had against Alexander Gustafsson.
“I think when you start finding success and landing things, you just kind of fall in love with it,” Cormier said. “It feels like the Alexander Gustafsson fight (at UFC 192) all over again, when I wrestled a lot in the first round then for the last four rounds I just didn’t. (My coaches) were begging me to do it then. But tonight I actually paid the ultimate price for not listening to my coaches. I’m usually pretty good about doing that.”
Miocic became just the second man to defeat Cormier in mixed martial arts competition. The first was Jon Jones. Cormier didn’t commit to retiring after his loss to Miocic and said he was mulling it over.
Did Daniel Cormier get too comfortable in the stand-up at UFC 241?