Photo by Hannah Foslien/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
“It was a lucky moment. Not taking anything away from ‘DC’ again. But it was a lucky moment.”
After Stipe Miocic avenged his knockout loss to Daniel Cormier to reclaim the heavyweight title at UFC 241, fans are clamouring to see a trilogy bout between the two pound-for-pound greats.
But, according to former divisional king Junior dos Santos, a rematch between Miocic and Cormier ‘doesn’t make any sense’ due to the nature of their first title bout at UFC 226, where ‘DC’ KO’d Miocic in the first round of the main event to capture the heavyweight title.
Dos Santos is adamant that Cormier landed a ‘lucky’ punch against Miocic and, therefore, isn’t deserving of a third fight with the newly-crowned champ.
“I think this trilogy doesn’t make any sense,” Dos Santos told MMA Fighting (transcribed by BJPenn.com). “Miocic proved he’s the champion. That’s what I mean, this is the most dangerous division in any sport. Once you connect the punch, your opponent is probably gonna go down. And that’s what happened in their first fight. Cormier connected a good punch, Miocic felt the punch. It was the same moment that I’m trying to explain for you what happened with me and Ngannou. It was a lucky moment. Not taking anything away from ‘DC’ again. But it was a lucky moment.”
At UFC 241, Miocic rallied back from adversity to stop Cormier in the fourth round, and dos Santos believes the result left no doubt as to who the ‘baddest man on the planet’ currently is.
“Now Miocic went there. He suffered, he survived for the first [three] rounds and came back and he pulls himself [up] and got the victory,” Dos Santos said. “Man, that was a brilliant performance. I was a fan of Miocic before and now I’m more a fan of him as a fighter and as a person too. He’s a great guy. But he deserves to be the champion. He deserves to be the baddest man on the planet right now, so it doesn’t make any sense to have this rematch with ‘DC.’”
Cormier, who was originally planning to retire earlier this year on his 40th birthday, hasn’t publicly commented on whether or not he wants to avenge his loss to Miocic and reclaim the heavyweight title. Teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov would like to see the former Olympian have one more fight and retire on a high note.