Daniel Cormier is changing his tune on the “Stipe Miocic trilogy or bust” mentality.
The competitive nature in Cormier makes it so that losing is not an option. As many fighters know, the harsh reality is that sometimes it’s the only option. While Cormier has a knockout win over Miocic, their rematch had a different outcome. Miocic regained the UFC heavyweight title with a fourth-round TKO win over “DC” back in Aug. 2019. Since that time, Cormier has been hounding Miocic for a trilogy bout.
Cormier Willing To Move On From Miocic Trilogy
UFC president Dana White has been mulling over the idea of stripping Miocic of the heavyweight gold if he doesn’t put the title on the line soon. During the UFC 249 post-fight show, Cormier said he’d be willing to fight Francis Ngannou if the vacant title was up for grabs (h/t MMAJunkie.com).
“If Stipe won’t fight, then Francis Ngannou has earned a title fight,” Cormier said on the UFC 249 post-fight show on ESPN. “If somebody is fighting Francis Ngannou for the title, it’s going to be me. All respect in the world to Francis Ngannou, but I’m not afraid of anyone. I’ll fight anybody on any planet. I love Francis, I think he’s a sweetheart person. I would love to do my trilogy with Stipe Miocic, but if Stipe won’t fight, they’re going to take his belt just like Henry (Cejudo) gave up his and they’re going to make a fight between Francis and I for the belt. It’s as simple as that.
“I would rather fight the trilogy fight with Stipe Miocic, I think that for everything we have meant to each other with me winning one and him winning one. That would be great for me. But if he doesn’t want to fight I want to fight my last fight. I want to fight whoever. And if it’s Francis Ngannou then I guess that’s who it’s going to be.”
From the looks of it, Cormier doesn’t seem to be interested in fighting Miocic if his next bout is against Ngannou. “DC” has insisted that his next outing inside the Octagon will be his last. Cormier is 41 years old and appears destined to be a long-term fixture in the booth as a color commentator.
Ngannou is coming off yet another scary knockout win. He flattened Jairzinho Rozenstruik in just 20 seconds this past Saturday night (May 9). Ngannou is riding a four-fight winning streak. None of those bouts made it to the two-minute mark, let alone the second round.
