Daniel Cormier Relinquishes UFC Light Heavyweight Title

Daniel Cormier is no longer the UFC light heavyweight champion.

The now-former two-division champ revealed he had decided to release the 205-pound belt on Friday rather than have it stripped when Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson fight at UFC 232 tomorrow night. Cormier explained his decision in the following statement released to ESPN:

“Today I am going to relinquish the UFC light heavyweight title. I am not going to be stripped of the belt that I’ve defended with my all for three and a half years. Being stripped of a title suggests you’ve done something wrong, and I haven’t.

“I’d rather walk away this way, with my head held high as it always has been, than have the history books say I was stripped. I’ve defended this title this year. I was approached with the idea of fighting at heavyweight, so I took it. I fought three times in 2018. No champion has been more active than me. I am the fighter of the year. My story and my legacy will not include me being stripped of a title. They can have it.”

Cormier’s Historic Run

Cormier was only the light heavyweight champion because his longtime rival Jones was stripped of the title yet again after knocking him out at 2017’s UFC 2014. After the victory, Jones tested positive for turinabol – a failure that continues to follow him to this day.

“DC,” on the other hand, was given the title back as a result. He parlayed that into an impressive 205-pound title defense over Volkan Oezdemir at January’s UFC 220 before moving up to heavyweight to challenge then-champion Stipe Miocic at July’s UFC 226. There, he knocked out Miocic in the first round to become the UFC’s second-ever simultaneous two-division champion.

He defended that title with a dominant second-round submission over Derrick Lewis at November’s UFC 230. Cormier has been linked to a final fight with former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar before retiring early next year. Those plans remain uncertain, however, and it appears Cormier will not be moving back down to light heavyweight before he retires.