Daniel Cormier first spoke about retirement in January 2018, six months before he became the UFC heavyweight champion and the second “double-champ” in history. 39 years old at the time, “DC” wanted to walk away from the sport by his 40th birthday on March 20, 2019.
Those plans took a backseat when he lost to Stipe Miocic in their rematch in August 2019. After losing via fourth-round TKO, Cormier made it his goal to “right the wrong” in that fight.
The two men met for the third time at UFC 252 on Saturday, two days shy of the anniversary of their second fight. After failing to meet his goal, Cormier is now decided to hang up his gloves for good.
“I’m not interested in fighting for anything but titles, and I don’t imagine there’s gonna be a title in the future,” he told fellow analyst Joe Rogan during the post-fight interview.
“That’ll be it for me.”
Thank you for everything, @DC_MMA. #UFC252 pic.twitter.com/TZCOzJf7sN
— UFC (@ufc) August 16, 2020
“So, that’ll be it for me. I’ve had a long run, it’s been great. I just fought my last fight for the heavyweight championship, and it was a pretty good fight.”
The 41-year-old Cormier holds a professional record of 22-3 (with 1 NC and 15 wins by stoppage). He’d gone through and defeated some of the sport’s biggest names, including former champions Frank Mir, Josh Barnett, and Anderson Silva, as well as top contenders like Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson, to name a few.
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