Former champ champ Daniel Cormier long planned to retire at 40, and but delayed for a trilogy fight vs. Stipe Miocic, and lost that via Unanimous Decision at UFC 252 August, and then retired. However, on the DC & Helwani podcast that he co-hosts, Cormier said his fight career should have been over, and was, when he successfully defended the heavyweight title vs. Derrick Lewis and had back surgery.
When I had that back surgery in 2018 after Derrick Lewis it was over. It was over. Like I mean, it was absolutely, it was over,” said DC. “I fought twice since and I possibly should not have. You can find those things in hindsight. But, when I had that back surgery it so severely limited what I could do that it was pretty much over. I wasn’t the same guy. I trained hard last fight and Stipe beat me. But, I just wasn’t the same guy no more after the back surgery. I should’ve probably stopped, I should’ve probably stopped. I wasn’t the same guy, I couldn’t train as I trained before and that is about as honest as I could be with everyone.
I think you can’t live with regret. Living with regret is tough. It sucks because at the end of 2018 I was atop the world. I was the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, I beat Stipe, I had won back the light heavyweight championship, I defeated Derrick Lewis. Anytime you are the first at anything in the UFC, it is massive. At the end of 2018, I was riding that wave but then my back was just so bad.
It was bad for a long time, right, there were a lot of times in the middle of training camp I would have to take days off because my back was so beat up. Legitimately, break everything down to the core, all the wear and tear in order to get back to my feet. I remember times in the middle of my championship run or before when I was crawling up the stairs at my house because my back was so jacked up. I was always able to manage it but once I had that surgery it was done.”
https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1341135543518830597
What do you think UG, could DC have been GOAT?
h/t Cole Shelton for BJPenn.com
