Daniel Cormier has promised he would retire by his 40th birthday, yet that is not the case. In the main event of UFC 241, he will rematch Stipe Miocic.
For Cormier, he is just focusing on this fight and not about his future. But, he wants to be someone who exits when he wants. Not having to retire after being knocked out brutally.
“I’ve long said I don’t want to be a guy that goes out on my back,” Cormier explained to MMA Fighting. “A lot of our greatest champions they leave the sport on their back. They leave as former champions. They leave their fans with that last vision of their favorite fighter on their back, [then] standing in the middle of the Octagon while their belt is getting strapped on someone else. I don’t want to be that guy.
“I want to be a guy that goes out on his own terms. I know that as you turn 40 years old, that time starts to near. I just have to decide if that time is now or a little bit later down the line.”
Although many want to see the Jon Jones trilogy fight, Cormier isn’t certain he fights again. But, if he does it must be worth his time.
“If you have a guy that’s in my situation that’s won 90 percent of his fights and been a champion and lived this tremendous life that I’ve been blessed, you don’t want to stand across the Octagon from just anybody,” Cormier said. “It needs to be something big.”
