‘DC’: Stipe Miocic Needs To Earn Rematch

Stipe Miocic has been insisant on a rematch against UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier.

The pair initially fought back in July when “DC” knocked Miocic out in the first round to capture the gold. Since, Cormier has gone on to successfully defend the title against Derrick Lewis. Miocic recently said that Cormier owes him a rematch.

Speaking on a recent episode of “The MMA Hour”, Cormier explains why he thinks the former champ needs to earn his rematch (via MMA Fighting):

“I understand where he’s coming from because I’ve been there with Jones twice and I’m like, ‘God, I know I can beat him if I can just get another opportunity to do it. I know I can beat him.’ And it burns at you and it eats at you, especially the way that he lost the fight. I get it,” Cormier said.

“But I don’t have to really owe anything. I’ve said that before, I’ve said he deserves it. I’ve said that. He deserves a rematch if I don’t get to fight Brock. I’ve always stood by that. But you can’t just go, ‘Well, you owe it to me.’ I don’t want to sit here and talk bad about Stipe because I like Stipe. I think he’s a good guy.

“He’s a fantastic father. He’s a pillar of the community. He’s a great fighter. I think he’s great. But you can’t sit there and say, ‘He owes me.’ When I lost to Jones the first time, I thought, ‘Man, if I can just get another opportunity.’ I didn’t just sit and wait. I went right back to work at trying to re-earn the opportunity if they weren’t going to give it to me.

“I wasn’t the champion obviously, so the circumstances were different, but I right away scheduled a fight to try to get my way back to that fight and it’s almost like he hasn’t really taken that approach. That’s one of the things where I’m kind of like, what’s going on? Why hasn’t he fought yet still?”

Miocic had a six-fight win streak snapped upon losing to Cormier. Five of those came by way of knockout. He is the most successful champion in heavyweight history, as he’s the only man to have ever defended the championship three times. It will be interesting to see if Cormier and Miocic rematch before “DC” retires.