Stipe Miocic on fight against Daniel Cormier: “I’m keeping this belt”
Both Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier have not competed since UFC 241, where Miocic avenged his loss to Cormier and regained the UFC heavyweight title. Miocic initially lost the title to Cormier back at UFC 226 in 2018 after he became the record-holder for most title defenses in the division, but staged a memorable comeback in his second meeting with ‘DC’ and ultimately grabbed the title back.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic and needing time to allow injuries he’s suffered to heal, Miocic has not fought since UFC 241 but the chatter between the former and current champ has continued to pick up. Cormier has recently gone public in calling for Miocic to sign the contract, something the champion says he will not do until he can have a full training camp.
In a recent interview with ‘MMA Tonight’ on Sirius XM’s Fight Nation, Miocic addressed the expected trilogy fight with Cormier, and he doesn’t have any plans of losing his belt, especially in what is likely to be Cormier’s final fight of his career.
“I know he’s going to come hard, I got him last time and I know he’s going to hard. I’m expecting the best ‘DC’ that’s going to come out in this fight, it could be the last one [for Cormier], I have the best coaches in the world, so I’ll be prepared for everything. I’m not going down. There’s no way. I’m keeping this belt. I like being called ‘Champ’, I like holding onto the belt.”
With the division’s title on hold awaiting Miocic and Cormier, two heavyweights competing at UFC 249, Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruik believe their fight should be for the interim title, and although that won’t be the case, Miocic is prepared to take on the winner of that fight.
“I’ll fight anyone. Unfortunately I probably would’ve been back sooner but I had a torn retina so I was out, I couldn’t really do much. I’d rather be able to see than not see, then it took a while unfortunately, I really couldn’t do anything, I wasn’t allowed. Then after I came back into the swing of things, this whole [COVID-19] pandemic happened so it’s just how it happened, there’s really nothing I can do about it.”
In time it seems there will be trilogy between Miocic and Cormier, and if he’s victorious, Stipe Miocic will be prepared for any and all contenders in the heavyweight division.
