DC: There’s only 12 months left in my fighting career
Daniel Cormier: “It’s still a big wakeup call that I’m 362 days away from not having the possibility of a fight again.”
UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier sits down recently with Stephie Haynes for BloodyElbow.com in what may be his G.O.A.T. interview. It’s briefly excerpted below, but do yourself a favor and click here for the whole thing.
Cormier turned 39 on 3/20 plans to retire comfortably at 40 despite massive further opportunities in combat sports, including one more fight with nemesis Jon Jones or a crossover bout with Anthony Joshua. DC is smart, saved his money, and can transition smoothly to an analyst position. It’s what you hope for your heroes.
“I feel like in 12 months, I’ll still be as good as I am today and when I walk away, I won’t have devalued myself by taking all kinds of unwarranted losses,” said Cormier. “You start seeing your favorite fighters and boxers start losing to guys that would have never had a chance against them before. I don’t want to be that guy walking out to the Octagon questioning if I’m still good enough to get the job done.”
“A long time ago, we decided as a family that at this age, I would walk away. But my wife told me, ‘I don’t think you’ll be able to walk away. I think you like the fight, the adrenaline, the competition too much. I don’t know if you’re going to be okay, I think you might still be fighting.’ I was like, ‘Nah, I told you guys a long time ago that I was doing it at this time and I’m going to stick to that.’”
“Last year, I did 10 or 11 color commentary gigs, and that’s enough money for anyone to make a really good living. That’s not counting UFC Tonight or any of the other work I do at FOX, so yeah, I’m in a good position.”
“I can do anything I want. I’ve gotten lucky in the sense that I’ve locked up this commentary stuff, the TV side of things, some investments that I’ve made, and I don’t have to be one of these champions that goes out looking at the lights. I may lose some fights, but I don’t have to be like everybody else. I’m kind of looking forward to leaving with everything that I’ve done still intact.”
