Former champ champ Daniel Cormier had vowed to retire at 40. DC won the light heavyweight title and successfully defended it three times. Then he won the heavyweight championship, and successfully defended that, too. However, Cormier fought on, and lost the rematch and the belt to Stipe Miocic at UFC 241 on August 17, 2019.
At UFC 252 on Saturday, the now 41-year-old Cormier has a trilogy fight vs. Miocic. DC says that regardless of the outcome, he will never fight in the Octagon again.
However, in a recent interview with Steven Marrocco for MMA Fighting, Cormier’s coach Javier Mendez said the fighter is capable of fighting on if he wants to.
He may say, ‘Yes, I’m done after this.’ But you’ve been around and I’ve been around, and Dana throws a lot of money at you,” said Mendez. “Sometimes it’s hard to say no.
He’s not performing like a 41-year-old. He’s in shape. His mind is sharp, his reflexes are sharp. He’s fighting like the best heavyweight there is.
If you’re performing at that level, who’s to say you should retire? Only he can decide if he wants to retire. His abilities can say he can do it longer. I don’t know how many fights he could do, but he can definitely do it now.
I’d want him to retire after this. I wanted him to retire before this. So from my point of view, I want him to retire, but I don’t know what he wants.
For my taste, if he retired, I’d be very happy with that. I didn’t particularly care if he fought this one or not, but he wants it, so if you care about your fighter, you stand by him.
If DC does fight on after Saturday, UG, who do you want to see him fight? Jones at heavyweight? A quadruply fight vs. Miocic? Anderson Silva rematch??!?
