UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier’s final fight before retiring was supposed to be rather cut-and-dry. “DC” was slated to face former champion Brock Lesnar in early 2019 before heading off into the sunset as he hit 40 years old.
But after Cormier recently admitted the Lesnar fight was still ‘up in the air’ heading into 2019, the pound-for-pound king’s future is now much more uncertain. Obviously, there’s a long-rumored trilogy grudge match with Jon Jones. ‘Bones’ recently regained his light heavyweight title by smashing Alexander Gustafsson at last weekend’s UFC 232. However, Jones isn’t too enthusiastic about moving up to heavyweight to challenge ‘DC.’
Persuaded?
That leaves their trilogy fight extremely unknown. Cormier may not be prepared to cut all the way back down to 205, as his last two cuts down to light heavyweight were clearly draining. If he fights Lesnar and is done, no one would blame him for cashing out when he’s ahead. UFC President Dana White loves ‘DC,’ and wants him to fight up to three more times. Cormier’s AKA coach Javier Mendez told MMA Fighting that White can be very persuasive. So much so, he may be able to talk Cormier into more fights:
“If Dana had his way, there’d be three left. And you know what, Dana has a pretty good way of persuading people. I like Dana, so I don’t know — we may see two or three [more fights]. I don’t know, I think so, I think Dana has a way of making things good for DC and making it right, so yeah, possibly, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Sticking By His Man
Mendez is willing to accept whatever Cormier wants, as ‘DC’ is an exemplary member of his team and a decorated captain. If the once-champ-champ wants to be done after one more fight, so be it. If he wants to fight 10 more times, Mendez will be right there as well:
“For me, I love DC so much, that if DC says tomorrow, ‘Jav, I’m done,’ then I’m going to encourage him to be done. But if h
“So if he tells me tomorrow, ‘I’m done,’ then I’ll tell you he’s done, but if he says, ‘I’m going to fight 10 more fights,
Stay At Heavyweight?
If he does end up fighting Jones, Mendez would prefer it be at heavyweight. That may not be possible considering Jones now has the 205-pound title and doesn’t want to move up anytime soon. In that case, Mendez knows the competitor in ‘DC’ would most likely commit to the cut:
“Would I rather have him at heavyweight, yeah,” Mendez said. “But knowing DC, the competitor that he is, he lost to [Jones] as a light heavyweight — I wouldn’t be surprised if DC says [a potential third fight is at] light heavyweight. But me personally, if he asks my advice, I’m gonna say if you’re gonna fight the guy, then I would like it at heavyweight.”
Other Ventures
At the end of the day, his longtime coach would prefer he just fight Lesnar and move on to his many outside-the-cage ventures. Cormier is a decorated TV analyst for the UFC and also coaches wrestling.
Due to all of his other pursuits, Mendez claims Cormier doesn’t need to fight:
“But really,
No matter what his. next move may be, Cormier will go down as one of the best fighters in MMA history. If he retires before facing Jones a third time, many will point to the fact that he never beat “Bones” as the only thing holding him back. He and his team know that isn’t the case, and his many fans do too.
Despite that, Cormier’s rep as a fierce competitor will more likely persuade him to face Jones a third time before he retires. If and when he does, one of the UFC’s biggest-ever fights will be at hand.
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