Cormier: I’m NOT fighting vs. Miocic vs. Ngannou winner

Light heavyweight Daniel Cormier defends his title in the co-main event of UFC 220 on January 20, 2018 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Then he plans to watch the main event fight between defending heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, and the next big thing, Francis Ngannou.

Just weeks ago, DC expressed interest in fighting the winner, describing it in an interview with MMAjunkie Radio, the most amazing thing in the world.

I’m not going in there to lose and say I gave it my best shot,” said Cormier, as transcribed by Fernanda Prates. “If I go in there with Miocic or Ngannou, I’m going to win. That’s just who I am. So that would just be me and my team really coming up with a solid plan on how I’m going to get up to a healthy, strong, 235, 240 pounds to go and fight those dudes.

However, with age comes wisdom.

“Do you see these guys? Do you see these dudes? I read that stuff and I don’t know what I was thinking back then, said Cormier at a recent press conference, as transcribed by Tristen Critchfield for Sherdog. So no, I’m not gonna fight Stipe Miocic. I’m definitely not gonna fight Francis Ngannou. I’m good.

Further, Cormier’s American Kickboxing Academy teammate, former two-time former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is returning.

’Stipe is good, you know. Francis, he hits hard I guess.’ That’s pretty much what Cain says, Cormier said. He respects Stipe. He doesn’t really know much about Francis because he doesn’t watch fights. He only saw the knockout because I think everybody’s seen the knockout of Overeem. He doesn’t really watch fights. He says he thinks it’s gonna be a great fight.

He’s been helping me get prepared for my fight. He’s not really too much worried about these guys. He’s just getting healthy and just hoping that at some point he can come back and fight at the level he was before.

While Velasquez is not particularly focused on the current champ and contender, Cormier can empathize with Miocic.

The closest thing I relate to is when Anthony Johnson was just killing everybody, and everybody thought that he was gonna blast right though me, said Cormier. I was kind of like, ‘It’s fine. I’ll be OK.’ I think that’s what Stipe Miocic is feeling right now. You’ve got a scary guy in Francis Ngannou , who hits as hard as anybody we’ve ever seen and you’ve got a guy on the cusp of becoming the greatest UFC champion of all time.

That’s what’s being missed in this. Stipe Miocic has won and defended this belt twice. If he wins again, he’s the most successful champion we’ve ever seen. And don’t forget he’s got five knockouts in a row himself. So somebody’s going to sleep, and I’m just glad I get to be in the building to watch it.