If you didn’t think Daniel Cormier was over with the fans after UFC 220, you best believe he will be now.
In a bombshell early Friday evening, the UFC announced Cormier would jump up in weight to fight reigning heavyweight king Stipe Miocic at UFC 226 in July.
Miocic demolished the highly-touted Francis Ngannou to retain his title, also at UFC 220, and it took a mere six days for he and Cormier to decide they wanted to know who was better among them.
Beyond shaking the sport to its core, the fight is a chance for Cormier to finish repurposing a legacy that has enjoyed a late-life makeover in the past year.
He lost his light heavyweight title to Jon Jones last summer at UFC 214 in a fight where he was cast as an unlikely villain.
After being badly stopped by Jones, he delivered a memorable soliloquy in the cage through tears. It humanized him.
Jones then famously failed his second drug test in three fights and Cormier was given his title back. It only made him hungrier.
He continued appearing on UFC broadcasts and doing an increasingly good job as an analyst, color commentator and interviewer.
It all culminated in the UFC 220 performance, where he swaggered through challenger Volkan Oezdemir as the Boston faithful lapped it up. The arena itself shook with chants of “DC! DC! DC!” as he pounded his way to another world title win—his third defence, or first, depending on your perception of the Jones saga.
At 38-years-old and in his 22nd professional bout, Cormier had arrived. And now, less than a week later, he is rolling that momentum into the biggest test of his sporting life.
Bigger than the Olympics.
Bigger than Jones.
Bigger than anything.
By taking on Miocic so willingly, taking him on after years of saying heavyweight was for his teammate Cain Velasquez to own, taking him on so soon after he put an official expiration date on his career, Cormier is sending a message.
This is about his legacy now, and that legacy will be one of greatness or bust.
It will not be about his trials and tribulations, Jones or whatever anyone else comes up with. It will be about his decisions and on his terms.
That’s admirable in a way not much in MMA is admirable anymore.
Where many in the sport are obsessed with Twitter beefs, Instagramming private jets and the elusive “money fight,” Cormier is obsessed with making people remember his name for competitive glories.
And who better to do it against than Miocic?
The only man in Boston to come close to getting the welcome Cormier did was the Clevelander, a part-time firefighter who blends blue collar and black-and-blue in a way no one else before him has. He is the epitome of hard work paying off, work done by keeping his chin down and letting his actions do the talking.
The closest he’s ever gotten to showing people what he really thinks of a situation was snatching his title belt from Dana White after he dispatched Ngannou so that his coach could crown him, which he later insisted was only a matter of respect.
It’s probably not any wonder that “stoic” is hidden in the man’s name.
Now he’ll serve as the perfect foil to Cormier as he attempts to prove that he’s the baddest man on the planet.
The stakes for Miocic are very real as well: A win and he’ll defend the heavyweight title an unprecedented fourth time over a former Olympian and Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner. One who, it bares reminding, was 13-0 as a heavyweight before dropping to 205-pounds and becoming a champion there.
Beating Cormier makes him a legend if he isn’t already, a laid back Midwestern boy done good in the world of professional fisticuffs.
The leadup will surely be about respect and honor, the fight about skill and will.
No press conference dust-ups.
No failed drug tests.
No being handed a belt even though you lost.
It’s the opportunity Cormier has dreamt of for years, even when he didn’t realize it.
Champion versus champion, the apex of the sport in a fight for a legacy he never could have imagined would look this way after the things he’s been through, the epitome of “anyone, anytime, any place.”
A belt over each shoulder and a ride off into the sunset, undeniable as one of the best to ever do it.
Who wouldn’t want that?
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