At UFC 226 on July 7, 2018, Daniel Cormier returned to heavyweight and knocked out Stipe Miocic, becoming only the second fighter in UFC history to hold belts in two divisions simultaneously. 16 months later he defended the title successfully, submitting Derrick Lewis. But in the rematch with Miocic, he was looking good until he wasn’t, losing via TKO in Round 4. The trilogy fight will take place at UFC 252 on August 15.
On a recent episode of the DC & Helwani podcast, Cormier reflected, and said the fight is pretty much all he is thinking about.
I think it’s more pronounced because I want to win so badly and I feel like I just fumbled so bad, said Cormier. I fumbled really bad last time. I fumbled in a lot of ways. I was so distracted with everything going on in my life and I was so focused on coaching and all these other things that I kind of just fumbled. I fumbled bad and I wasn’t prepared as I needed to and I got tired. Like, I got tired. I can admit it. I got tired.
“He hit me with those shots in the end, he hurt me to the body and he hurt me to the head and I didn’t react because my body couldn’t react because I was so tired, and I will not allow that to happen again. If he ever finds a way to hurt me, I need to fight back like I did in every other instance in my entire life. I didn’t do that last time and it sits with me every single day.
That’s why everybody is like, ‘Man, you’ve always got people around you.’ Because it sucks to be around my thoughts. When I’m just stuck with my thoughts a lot of time, I start thinking about the things that I didn’t do that got me beat last time.
In the rematch, Miocic lost the first two rounds, but in the third began to land body shots – kill the body and the head will die. Cormier believes he got overconfident after two successful rounds and so didn’t adjust appropriately to Miocic’s change of gameplan.
I think that’s what happened to me, said Cormier. I was very comfortable because I felt like I was better—and I still do believe I’m better—but that was even almost like reaffirmed after the first round because I landed almost everything I threw. Even after the fight, I think I landed like 70 percent of my strikes. I barely ever missed so it was just a bad combination that got me beat. So I think about it constantly. It’s bad.
UFC 253 will be Cormier’s final fight in the Octagon, and his overarching goal isn’t a win or a loss, it’s performing to the best of his ability.
I just want to do what I’m supposed to do, said DC. If that means win, that means win. But I want to compete to my ability. That wasn’t the best of my ability. I know that because of who he is, there’s a chance he could beat me. You’ve got to be stupid to think that a guy who has done all he has done can’t win a fight. But if he does, I want him to beat the best version of me.
If he wins that fight, I want him to do it by beating the best version of Daniel Cormier, not a guy who isn’t even a year out of back surgery and not in the best physical condition, isn’t able to train himself to be who he is. That’s all I want. I want to be able to go out there and compete to my potential, and with that said, I feel my potential is me winning the fight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQjesT-kYY8
h/t Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting
