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It’s hard to say if Daniel Cormier thought Jan Blachowicz was an easy layup or that he was just struggling to keep his competitive fire at bay, but it sounds like “DC” was ready to make one last run at the UFC light heavyweight title.
Then common sense took over.
“I’ve got to be honest, when Jan Blachowicz was like ‘hey, you want to disrespect me, get off the couch and come fight me,’ and I think to myself maybe I’ll go fight Jan Blachowicz,” Cormier told MMA Fighting. “I’ll go fight him and get this done and then I can walk away. That lasted about 15 minutes and then I completely understood that I was completely done.”
Cormier, who turns 42 in just a few months, retired from competition after losing his Stipe Miocic trilogy at UFC 252 last August. “DC” has not seen the light heavyweight division since smashing Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 220 back in Jan. 2018.
During his absence, longtime rival Jon Jones vacated the 205-pound title, which was subsequently put up for grabs in the Jan Blachowicz vs. Dominick Reyes co-main event at UFC 253 last October, a bout that ended by way of Polish power.
“I thought about that for like 15 minutes and then I was like you know what? I’m good,” Cormier continued. “The thought of going down to 205 [pounds] and all this other stuff. Yeah, I think I’m fine. That was it.”
Blachowicz is expected to fight in early 2021 against either Israel Adesanya or Glover Teixeira.