Daniel Cormier sets a date for his unexpected UFC farewell
The current situation might force Daniel Cormier to retire from UFC in a lackluster manner.
The former Heavyweight titleholder had planned to bid farewell to the Octagon with a trilogy bout with the ruling Champ Stipe Miocic. But in an interview with Bloody Elbow, Cormier said that he will not wait till after summer to hang up his fighting gloves.
DC: I think it needs to happen by summer
Cormier had last fought in August 2019 where he lost the Heavyweight belt to Miocic in a fourth-round knockout. This was the second encounter between the two, which called for a third and final bout to complete the trilogy. The bout was about to happen during summer this year, which was to be Cormier's last dance as a fighter.
However, the sudden coronavirus pandemic has upset many plans of UFC, the Cormier-Miocic trilogy being one of them. At present, Cormier believes it is still possible to have the fight sometime in late summer once things go back to normal, but one cannot say anything with certainty.
"I don’t think it’s shifted too much. I think that we were looking at the summer, late summer, anyways. I think by late summer we should be getting back rolling as a country, as an organization. It affects the ability to go into the gym right now as I would be, but I don’t know the effects of that with some of these other things."
But if it keeps getting pushed beyond that into fall or winter, then Cormier will have no other way but to quit without fighting for one last time.
"(But if) this thing starts going to late fall, getting into the winter, there’s no way. I’d be done. Yeah, I think it needs to happen by the summer."
Cormier turned 41 years old this March and said in a recent interview that he is not willing to fight the young fighters of the division. He has also said previously that fighting past the age of 40 is not on his plans. So it makes sense if he does not want to continue once it becomes clear that the Miocic fight will not happen anytime soon.
Only time will tell if fans will get to see the much-awaited trilogy before Cormier leaves the Octagon.