Daniel Cormier wants to beat Stipe Miocic and retire as champion
Daniel Cormier is still keen on that one last fight against the reigning UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic before hanging his gloves.
The 41-year-old fighter knows that there may not be a better opportunity than this for him to go out while he's on top of his game.
Given he's able to beat Miocic in the trilogy fight, Cormier can bow out as the champion of the heavyweight division.
That's exactly why Cormier has announced that this is his last fight and it is a case of "all or nothing" for him, as the former Olympian looks to end his glorious MMA career on a high. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Cormier said that if he wins the fight and becomes the new champion, then retiring will be a tough call to make.
“I believe I can [walk away]. It will be the hardest thing I’ll have to do but I believe I can and I think it will make everybody pretty happy in terms of my household, my wife and my kids. As much as they love watching me compete, the chance to see me go out on top would be a fairy tale. I believe I can."
Cormier and Miocic announced their trilogy fight earlier this year; the negotiations of which should have been underway by now but isn't due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But Cormier doesn't regret not completing the negotiations earlier either. He knows that the fight will happen in the near future if not late summer, and is willing to wait till the time's right.
“If we’re not able to get back to work until the summer, that kind of falls in line with what I was thinking or what the organization and Stipe were thinking for our fight time.The reality is it wouldn’t really affect us in the sense of us not being able to train like we can’t right now."
Cormier said that right now, both he and his counterpart are focused on the bigger picture which is to successfully stop the coronavirus disease from spreading. But after the dust settles on that issue, the champ and the former champ will look to end this rivalry once and for all.
“I believe [the trilogy] will happen. Not exactly sure when but I do believe it will happen.”