Stipe Miocic has no plans to retire after UFC 252
Reigning and defending UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is preparing for his trilogy fight against former two-weight champion Daniel Cormier next weekend at UFC 252, and it’s likely not going to be his final fight.
While it has been over a year since fans have seen Miocic fight inside the Octagon, where he once again captured his heavyweight title over Cormier at UFC 241 splitting the series between the two. With this likely to be the final fight in Cormier’s career, the champion doesn’t have the same plan of retirement.
Speaking to James Lynch, Miocic discussed his plans for the future of his career and says he has no plans of retirement following the fight against Cormier.
“As long as I’m having fun [I’ll continue], that’s the name of the game. I’m feeling good, I’m resting my body more as I’ve been getting older and it’s definitely helping a lot. Got some amazing coaches and we listen to each other, we talk to each other, we don’t just caveman train. We’ve done well this camp. For everything that’s been thrown at us, we’ve done well. It’s been crazy fun.” (H/T The Mac Life)
With the heavyweight division getting rolling again, there are sure to be contenders for whoever the heavyweight champion is after UFC 252 (Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou come to mind first), but getting the division back in order is certainly a must. While he’s spent the last three years of his career going back-and-forth with Cormier, Stipe Miocic is also open to the idea of facing Cormier’s bitter rival, Jon Jones.
When asked about a potential fight against Jones, Miocic told Lynch that he likes the way he matches up against the current light heavyweight matchup.
“I think I’d be a great fight for him, and I think I’d walk out the winner. I know I would because it’s a different weight class and I think I’d do well. I know I’d do well.”
There had been previous talks of a Miocic-Jones matchup but those never came to fruition, yet with newcomers in both the heavyweight and light heavyweight division, it’d be interesting to see what the UFC decides to do if Miocic and Jones wanted to face each other.
Either way, it doesn’t seem that Miocic plans to retire after UFC 252 and will have plenty of options if he comes out successful in the trilogy fight against Cormier. As for his matchup against Cormier, Miocic recently gave a warning to the refree, telling them to watch the eye pokes which were a big reason for the long layoff for the champion.
