UFC: Daniel Cormier Wants Stipe Miocic Trilogy Fight As Soon As Possible

After splitting their first two fights inside the UFC Octagon, Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic are expected to face off for a third time in 2020. Although we may have to wait until next summer to see the trilogy.

After Cormier won the UFC heavyweight title by knocking out Miocic in the very first round of their first meeting at UFC 226, Stipe was able to win back his belt last August at UFC 241, stopping ‘DC’ in the fourth round.

Unfortunately in their second meeting, Miocic suffered an eye injury, that required surgery. And with the UFC having already announced a number of the pay-per-view headliners for the first quarter of next year, Cormier believes we’ll have to wait a little longer for the third fight.

“There’s no time for us to fight until maybe June. The way the UFC quarterly schedule is looking, the UFC essentially, with them announcing Tony [Ferguson] and Khabib [Nurmagomedov] for April, there’s really no time. We’re going to be waiting a little bit,” Cormier stated to MMA Junkie.

But the former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion expressed his desire to make the trilogy as soon as possible, especially now that he is getting back to full health, after his successful back surgery.

“It’s tricky, I would like it to happen sooner than later, that’s all I would like to say. I feel like the more time I get away from last year’s back surgery, the better I feel, and I’m starting to really feel like myself now. The further I get away from this surgery, the better I’ll be. They told me when I did it, after about a year is when it would really start to feel everything was back in order and I’m starting to feel that now.

“I’m ready to go, but he’s the champ. He’s the champ, he makes the rules. So I’m on standby and I’m waiting to see when this guy says that we’re going to fight,” admitted Cormier. “When he does, I’ll be prepared. I’ll be ready – even more prepared than the last time because I feel I can prepare better from the very start right now.”

Cormier gave Miocic credit for adjusting his game plan during their last fight but sill felt confident, knowing that he was up the majority of the time they shared the Octagon together.

“I had that Derrick Lewis stop in between [the two Miocic fights], but I didn’t even get to train for that. I fought on three weeks [notice], so we’re pretty much in the same situation. I think what’s great for me is in five rounds of fighting I’ve won the vast majority of those rounds. That’s what feels good for me in my preparation. There are some things I need to change. Obviously he did a great job of adjusting and punching me in the body last time, and that’s what ultimately won him the fight. But I’ve already started to take the steps to try to improve that,” said Cormier.

I’m working with George Foreman now, and he showed me some tips to help with the boxing. The reality is it’s all boxing. Stipe isn’t kicking me very much, he’s punching and punching and I’m punching and wrestling. I’ve started to work on some things to try to shore up that issue that caused me so many problems last time,” he added.

More than anything, Cormier takes great pride in the two back-and-forth battles he has had with Miocic, and will now patiently wait for the trilogy fight.

“I think Stipe and I have a fantastic rivalry. I won the first fight in tremendous fashion, he won the second fight in tremendous fashion. I feel like we’ve had the first two acts of a three-act drama and we have to do the trilogy fight and eventually we’re going to do that.”

Who do you think wins the trilogy fight between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic?


See also:


Tagged: , , , , ,

Leave comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.